


Death Of A Bachelor

by lannisterslioness



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, Movie Star Rey, Writer Poe, old hollywood au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-05-15 10:42:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 33,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5783284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannisterslioness/pseuds/lannisterslioness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was 2:30 in the morning, and Poe was tired of everything; tired of the same smell of smoke that lingered in the air from his cigarettes, tired of the same old taste his scotch left in his mouth, and tired of the mounds of wadded up paper that surrounded him that were scribbled with his horrible ideas</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Based off the AU that was created by youffievalentine on tumblr!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I'm not sure how long this will be, but I've been dying to start this AU and I figured I'd try to get as much writing done as I could before I possibly get caught up in this snow storm heading my way! I hope you guys enjoy this fic!

    It was 2:30 in the morning, and Poe was tired of everything; tired of the same smell of smoke that lingered in the air from his cigarettes, tired of the same old taste his scotch left in his mouth, and tired of the mounds of wadded up paper that surrounded him that were scribbled with his horrible ideas. It had been seven months since he had thought up his last decent idea, decent enough that it turned out passable in the hands of a barely competent director. He’d never admit it out loud, but Poe was absolutely stuck, he had no idea what to write about anymore, and all he wanted to do was drown out his sorrows in the bottom of some bottle. He was just about to do so, his hands wrapped around the cold glass bottle, when his phone interrupted the quiet calm with its shrill ring.

 

    There were only a few people in the world who would dare to call him at such an ungodly hour, he didn’t feel like talking to either of them, but knowing that they’d more than likely persist, Poe relented and answered the phone with a heavy sigh - trying to untangle the phone cord as he did so. 

 

    “You do know what time it is, right?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Unfortunately I do,” The familiar voice of Han Solo grumbled on the other end of the line. “I’ve got three hours of sleep, a wife who is on edge, and I’m learning how to deal with a starlet who is barely considered an adult and all of her grumbling about how damn early it is.” 

 

    “Sounds like fun.” Poe chuckled as he lit up another cigarette. “Why are you calling me?” 

 

    “Because not too long ago we finally got back from London, and we’ve shown this girl script after script and there was only one person she seemed hellbent on reading another word from. Take a wild guess as whose name she kept throwing around.” Han stated. 

 

    “Hate to break it to you, but Leia knows better than anyone, I haven’t written a damn thing in seven months and I’m sure as hell not about to throw something together for an actress having a temper tantrum.” Poe couldn’t help but laugh. 

 

    “What I’m saying is I’m getting my wife home and I’m putting the other one in bed somewhere, and tomorrow either you’re going to come down here or the boss will probably drag you here kicking and screaming just to talk to this girl for five seconds.” Han grumbled; Han may have been the one whose name was on the film company, but everyone knew Leia kept things running. 

 

    “Mind if I ask why she wants to talk to  _ me _ so badly? Of all the writers out there?” Poe asked curiously. 

 

    “Apparently she’s a fan of ‘ _ Lovers In The Dying Light’ _ , you know, that one you wrote with lots of love and death in it that everyone won’t shut up about four years later.” Han sighed, deep down he knew Han actually like the movie, or at least Leia said he did, though like many other things, Han would never admit it. “Either way she seems hellbent on working with you, just entertain the kid for an afternoon and then we’ll find something for her, alright?” 

 

    “Alright.” Poe grumbled, putting out his half a cigarette now and decided that it was time to dip into the scotch again. “One afternoon.” 

 

    “Great, let me go get these two to sleep somewhere before they’re at each other's throats, see you tomorrow kid.” Han said and abruptly hung up before Poe could protest any further. 

 

    After the sheer thought of what horrors a young and possibly airheaded actress could bring, Poe had to admit that the scotch started to taste a bit better again. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Poe was more than sure that it wasn't morning anymore, with the light streaming in on his face through the curtains. He heard the all too familiar barking battle that could only be taking place between his little pup - BB-8 - and the only other dog he knew, Chewy, which just so happened to belong to the one and only Han Solo. He rolled over in his bed, groaning and dealing with a hangover from far too much scotch last night, and was adjusting to the not so welcome sight of Han Solo’s stern frown on his face and a cigarette hanging from his lips. 

 

    “Well, good afternoon sleeping beauty.” Han grumbled. 

 

    “How in the hell did you get in my house?” Poe asked, sitting up and pulling the sheets into his lap. 

 

    “You should really sleep with some damn pants on, and you gave Leia a key after Natalie left, back when you were really losing it.” Han took the key out of his pocket and held it out in front of him. “You sounded drunk so I figured you wouldn’t wake up on time.” 

 

    “Could we not start the day talking about her?” Poe groaned, the last name he ever wanted to hear again was Natalie. 

 

    “It’s been four years, but whatever.” Han shrugged and put the key back in his pocket. “Get dressed, we’re late as it is. At this rate we’ll be having dinner together.” 

 

    “Remind me again why I have to be there?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Leia wants you to meet this girl we found out in the theater in London, she hopes that you’ll get inspired or something, since you haven’t written in a while.” Han said. 

 

    “She thinks some girl from London is going to suddenly fix all of this?” Poe asked with a grim smile and gestured to the disarray around him. “Good luck.” 

 

    “Not fix, just make you write something.” Han said. “Look, I don’t know what she thinks either, but when Leia sets her mind to something it’s forever set in stone. Just get dressed, talk to the girl, and leave, that’s all she really wants.” 

 

    “Fine.” Poe grumbled.

 

* * *

  
  


    It was another bright and sunny day in Hollywood, it was almost always bright and sunny and unbearably hot in the land of dreams. They were meeting at some restaurant that Poe knew he’d been to before, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember the name of it. They had the whole outdoor garden seating to themselves, Leia already sat there, having a drink and a grand old time talking to the girl sat across from here. The girl was young and fresh faced, she looked so thin and almost fraile, but there a confidence to her hidden beneath the surface. Her skin was pale though sitting in the sun with her bare shoulders would surely change that in the California sun, he could make out some faint freckles on her face while her long brown hair fell in waves past her shoulders. Her big brown eyes were what captivated him him most, there was an innocence to them that Poe hadn’t seen in a long time, she was so new to all of this around her, Poe almost hated to think what Hollywood might do to her. 

 

    “Well, look what the cat dragged in.” Leia smirked. “Care to join us?” 

 

    Han took a seat beside his wife, she was the only person in the world he ever smiled for, and Poe took his seat beside the girl, she had a sweet smile about her, but something about it seemed like it was masking something else. 

 

    “I’m Poe, nice to meet you.” He said politely, holding his hand out for her to shake. 

 

    “Rey.” She answered simply and shook his hand, offering up a smile once she pulled away. 

 

    They all talked for a while, Leia rattling on about how great Rey was in her last performance in London, though Rey stayed silent through most of it, blushing at every compliment she got. Poe could tell just by watching her that there was something underneath all the innocent smiles, but there was something so soft about her as well, something he hadn’t seen in a long time, it was something that he hadn’t seen since he met Natalie all those years ago. 

 

    “So what do you think, Poe?” Leia finally asked towards the end of their lunch. “Do you have something for Rey to read over?” 

 

    “Maybe.” Poe answered, though he hadn’t written a damn thing in months. “I have to ask you though, in complete honesty.” Poe said as he turned to Rey, her eyes locked on him. 

 

    “Ask away.” Rey smiled. 

 

    “What did you think the story was behind  _ Lovers In The Dying Light _ ?” Poe asked. Over the months he’d asked the question over and over again to everyone Leia dragged to him in hopes to spark his creativity again. Every time they answered with something fluffy like ‘ _ they’d die for each other’ _ or something that completely missed the point like ‘ _ I thought it was a wonderful romance’ _ . 

 

    “I thought it was heartbreaking.” Rey answered, her smile fading a bit. “They were so in love before and it all just faded away, until there was nothing left but resentment.” 

 

    That was it, that was the answer he’d been searching for, someone who  _ knew _ what happened between those two characters, the people who so perfectly mirrored Natalie and himself. Poe cracked a smile before reaching out and taking a swig of his drink. 

 

    “I’ll have something for you in a few days.” Poe answered. He’ll think up something, he always pulls something together at the end somehow. 

 

    “I can’t wait to read it.” Rey said with a hopeful smile. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Not much action really in this chapter except for finding out who the woman was who broke Poe's heart before Rey here came along! The next chapter will have a lot more Damerey interaction going on, I promise ;)

_ Everything about her was always red, a bright screaming red that refused to be ignored - at first it was enchanting, and then one day Poe realized it was a warning of what was to come, if only he’d seen in before it happened. She wore her bright red dress she loved more than any other, it ending just below her knees, modest yet still flattering and hugging in all the right places; her light brown hair was falling in perfect curls, pinned back with a bright red flower, and who could forget those intoxicating red lips. Red was always the perfect description for Natalie - violent, passionate, alluring, and dangerous.  _

 

_     She walked towards him with such ease, as if she were gliding over the floor in the darkened room rather than actually walking in those damn red heels. There was that ever present smirk on her face, something once considered innocent now tainted with the truth of who she really was. She sat beside Poe at his desk, leaning on his shoulder just like she used to.  _

 

_     “What are you writing?” She asked.  _

 

_     Poe looked around, he saw crumpled up papers, cups filled with cigarette butts, and a typewriter with a blank page fed into it, nothing written down at all.  _

 

_     “Nothing.” Poe mumbled.  _

 

_     “Figures.” Natalie groaned, snatching the cigarette from his hand and taking a puff before putting it out in his unfinished glass of scotch, her red lipstick stain vibrant against it. “You were alway such a moody writer, you hate the world yet everyone loves what you have to say about it, those compliments feed that little bit of narcissism, just enough to keep you from drowning your sorrows entirely in a glass.” She laughed now. “You’re pathetic.” _

 

_     “Don’t you have another man to go screw or something?” Poe was getting frustrated, all she did was see other men behind his back, why was she even here? Why did she even care when she never did?  _

 

_     “Oh, that still stings, doesn’t it sweetie?” Natalie asked in that sickly sweet tone she always used when she wanted to try to make light of something that was hard to forget, like the sight of her screwing another man in their bed. “That you weren’t man enough to keep me?” She laughed again, it sounding more like a cackle this time. “It shows in your horrible stories, you used to be something you know.”  _

 

_    “Then you came along.” Poe hissed.  _

 

_     “Ouch, that stung.” Natalie had the audacity to look offended, only for a moment before her smirk came back. “If I had a dollar for every man I ever screwed over I wouldn’t need to be an actress, honey. You were just dumb enough to fall for it, the love bug got you good.”  _

 

_     “Why are you even here?” Poe was trying to keep his anger under control.  _

 

_     “Now is that a tone to use around your ex-fiance?” Natalie asked. “You can’t write, I’m your muse, don’t you remember? All those times you’d moan it into my ear-”  _

 

_     “You’re not anymore.” Poe stopped her there, he didn’t need to be reminded of all the times he fell for her charms.  _

 

_     “Right, you’re trying to impress that little doll.” Natalie grabbed an empty glass and poured herself some scotch, greedily sipping at it. “The perfect little untainted flower who hasn’t been plucked.”  _

 

_     “Don’t talk about her like that.” Poe mumbled.  _

 

_     “I have an idea!” Natalie exclaimed, an over exaggerated smile on her face as she slammed the glass down and straddled Poe’s lap, hanging on no matter how hard he tried to push her away. “Why don’t you write about plucking the petals off of her? You love that stuff, don’t you, hon? You love all those morals and crap, write about deflowering that precious little thing.”  _

 

_     “Stop.” Poe was grinding his teeth together now.  _

 

_     “I know what’s wrong.” Natalie froze, her hands gripping onto his belt. “I don’t look like her, that little girl you keep dreaming about, I can fix that.” She winked.  _

 

_     Natalie climbed off of him and scurried over to some part of the darkened room he couldn’t see, when she came back, she wasn’t Natalie anymore. It was Rey, quiet and tentative, almost afraid to approach him. Her pale blue dress almost mirrored Natalie’s except for the buttons in the front, and her red lipped smile was sweet, nothing monstrous like the woman before her.  _

 

_     “Rey?” Poe asked in confusion.  _

 

_     “I can be your muse.” Rey said softly, reaching up and slowly unbuttoning her dress one button at a time, the smile still on her face. “I can be whatever you want.”  _

 

_     “Rey, stop.” Poe sighed, before he could even get up she was sitting in his lap, the top of her dress undone and showing off her bra.  _

 

_     “What’s wrong? Don’t you want me to be your muse? Isn’t this how all your muses are? Don’t they all have sex with you to get what they want?” Her voice was a bit harsher now. “Didn’t you treat them like this until she came along?”  _

 

__ Poe woke up covered in a layer of sweat, darting upright in bed and gasping for air. BB-8 woke up with a start, the pug was always startled when Poe had nightmares like that. The little dog nudged it’s head under Poe’s free hand, and Poe obliged by petting him a few times before he seemed calmed enough to go back to sleep. He’d had nightmares about Natalie before, he was used to that, she waltzed into his life four years ago and played him as he played all the other girls before, and seven months later she was still haunting him. But Rey was a first, he’d been trying to write something the past four days since he’d last seen her and not a damn thing, but now she was in his nightmares too, and that was the last place he wanted her to be. He needed to write something and get it out of his system before he went insane, but what it would be about, he had no idea. Poe pushed the covers off and got out of bed, pulling a nearby robe on and heading out to his office, hoping that something would come to him. 

 

* * *

  
  


    The day was almost gone, and Poe hadn’t written a damn thing. He had breakfast, he took BB-8 for a walk, he listened to the radio, he ordered in dinner, and now he was aimlessly playing the piano, trying to remember the songs he used to play long ago. He was just starting to remember a tune when there was someone knocking at his door. Poe stopped, the piano emitting a harsh tune as his hands slammed down on the keys. BB-8 perked his head up from his pillow and started barking like mad, charging towards the front door as if he were some kind of guard dog. 

 

    “Calm down, buddy, I hear it.” Poe groaned as he got up from the piano bench. It was either Han or Leia, they were the only two people that generally showed up without any sort of announcement.

 

    Poe opened the door and Leia walked in, dressed in her business attire - a white blouse and blue pencil skirt, along with a blue blazer, and of course her hair braided up in it’s typical unusual fashion. Poe peaked out the door looking for Han, and saw him getting Chewy out of the car, taking him for a quick walk as the sun was setting. 

 

    “Well if you’re just coming in here than it must be serious.” Poe sighed as he shut the door behind her. “I haven’t written anything yet if that’s what you’re here for.” 

 

    “I figured.” Leia sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m here to tell you to pull yourself together, I need you to pretend to be a human being tomorrow night.”

 

    “What’s the occasion?” Poe asked as BB-8 sniffed at Leia’s feet, the cracked a smile before bending down to pick up the dog and give him a few affectionate kisses. 

 

    “There’s the gala for the company tomorrow, it would be nice if one of my few award winning writers would care to show up.” Leia said. 

 

    “Pass.” Poe stated without a second thought, walking back off into the living room and taking a seat back at his piano. 

 

    “It wasn’t an invitation, it was more of a statement. You’re going.” Leia said. “You haven’t been out of this house except to go eat in seven months, half of the industry thinks you’re either dead or locked up in some looney bin, and it doesn’t help that Natalie Ryan keeps bragging to the world of how she broke your heart.” 

 

    “You seem to be forgetting that I don’t care what the rest of the world has to think about me, especially  _ her _ .” Poe grabbed his drink off the top of the piano and took a big swig, he’d decided on whisky tonight and the way it burned down his throat, he wished he hadn’t. 

 

    “You just have to show your face for a half hour and then you can go, long enough to make people realize I’m not keeping you locked up in some basement somewhere until you recover from your  _ ‘episode’ _ .” Leia sighed. 

 

    “That’s a new one, I haven’t heard of that rumor before.” Poe laughed. “It’s almost kinda funny.” 

 

    “Just make sure you're presentable, I’m tired of coming here and shaking your ass out of bed or a stupor, I’ve hired an assistant for you, he’s very...chipper. You’re opposite right now which is a good thing, he’ll make sure you get out of here on time.” Leia said with a smirk. 

 

    “Gee, thanks.” Poe groaned. 

 

    “Poe, you know you’re like a son to me, right?” Leia asked, her tone was more serious now, she wasn’t playing or kidding around anymore. “I hate to see you like this, I really do. But now is the time to just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and go show that wicked little witch that she didn’t ruin your life. You’ve still got talent, you’re still young - don’t let someone like Natalie Ryan break you.” 

 

    Poe was silent, Han had told him something to that effect more than a couple of times in a number of different ways, and he understood it; but hearing it from Leia finally made it sink in a bit more. Natalie was still haunting his nightmares because even though she was gone, he still let her hold this power over him, and it was somehow worse than when she was there. 

 

    “Not to mention, I think you made quite the impression on Rey.” Leia said. “She keeps asking about you, if you’ve got anything yet. I keep telling her the same thing but leave it to you to catch that girls eye.” 

 

    “God, how old is she? Shouldn’t she be going for some young hot-shot actor or something, someone like Ben?” Poe offered. 

 

    “Ben’s got a girl already, or so he’s told his father and I, we haven’t met her yet but she’s older than him and I already hate her.” Leia grumbled, setting BB-8 down finally as she happily trotted back over to his pillow. “And if I were talking to the you four years ago, I would have told you to stay the hell away from this poor girl, but you’re not the same, and that’s a good thing. There are plenty of vultures that will be there that will try to take advantage of her and I can’t keep my eye on her all night.” 

 

    “You want me to babysit her?” Poe asked with an amused grin. 

 

    “She’s nineteen and has just come to the home of people taking advantage of pretty young things like her. You’ve been that guy, and you’ve been the one who got hurt, I just want you to...pass on your wisdom to her.” Leia offered. 

 

    “I’m gonna have to stay more than a half hour, aren’t I?” Poe asked, taking another sip of his drink. 

 

    “Probably.” Leia shrugged. “There’s booze, you’ll be fine. Plus your assistant will drag you back here.”

 

    “Fine.” Poe finally relented. “But you owe me one.” 

 

    “Sweetheart, I’ve covered for you more times than I can count.” She laughed and ruffled up his hair like she would have done to a kid. “Let’s say you’re one step closer out of the hole. And god, get a haircut and shave that beard, you look like a hobo.” 

 

    “Thanks.” Poe smirked. “Add it to the assistant’s to do list.” 

  
    “The boy hasn’t even started work and I already feel bad for giving him this job.” Leia sighed. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I was going to write a chapter for one of my other fics, but I'm as invested in this fic as much as you guys so I couldn't help but jump right into chapter three :P

    As soon as Poe woke up, he was almost sure he was trapped in some kind of odd dream; the blinds on his windows were pulled open to let all the morning sunlight stream in, there was a suit perfectly pressed and hanging from the back of his closet door, and there was the smell of coffee being brewed lingering in the air. He was also sure that BB-8 had been sleeping by his side in the middle of the night, and now his bedroom door was cracked open and his faithful companion was missing. 

 

    “I really need to change the locks.” Poe mumbled to himself as he slowly sat up in bed, his eyes adjusting to the bright light now flooding his room. 

 

    He pulled on a shirt before grabbing one of his robes he’d tossed over the chest at the end of his bed sometime last night before he crashed. Poe imagined this was the work of the so-called assistant that Leia had told him about, and he knew right from the start - whoever they were - they were already far too much of a morning person for Poe’s liking. As soon as Poe walked into the kitchen, he wasn’t all that surprised to see an unfamiliar face who jumped at the sight of Poe suddenly in front of them. 

 

    “Oh, good morning Mr. Dameron.” The assistant replied cheerfully, “I’m your new assistant, Finn.” 

 

    Finn was a young man, undoubtedly in his early twenties with dark skin, brown eyes, a perfectly tailored suit, and glasses he had to push back up the bridge of his nose. He seemed efficient if nothing else, though the cheerfulness would have to be something Poe would work on getting used to over time. 

 

    “Good to meet you, Finn.” Poe yawned as BB-8 scurried up to him and wagging his tail. “And please, call me Poe, I hate Mr. Dameron.” 

 

    “Alright, Poe it is then.” Finn agreed quickly before turning around and grabbing a cup of coffee that was seemingly already made exactly the way Poe liked it - black with two sugars. 

 

    “Did she give you a manual or something on me?” Poe asked amused, taking a sip of his coffee. 

 

    “Mrs. Organa-Solo just told me you weren’t a morning person, to be specific, she said that  _ ‘short of shooting a gun off near his head, coffee is the only thing that will wake him up’ _ .” Finn stated. 

 

    “I hate to admit it but it’s true.” Poe laughed. “So, where did Leia get you from? I can’t imagine she just picked you out of nowhere.” 

 

    “I work at the studio, I’m usually just a general PA running around and helping whoever needs help. I’ve been stuck in the writers room a couple of times though.” Finn shrugged. 

 

    “Ah, so you’re used to dealing with us ‘eccentric writers’ then, huh?” Poe asked. 

 

    “I have to admit, I’ve seen some pretty strange things in that room, but after the first couple of days I learned that when a writer asks for something completely insane to just go with it.” Finn sighed. “Oh, that reminds me, Leia told me to have a barber come over and cut your hair and give you a shave.” Finn jumped into action and started wandering around the house, looking for the phone, and BB-8 leaving Poe’s side to go follow the new stranger in the house. 

 

* * *

  
  


_ Too poofy, too many buttons, too much lace,  _ Rey had been looking through hundreds of dresses for days, sent from just about every corner of the Earth for the budding and beautiful new starlet, and so far she'd found absolutely nothing to wear for the gala tonight. She usually found something she loved almost instantly, she'd never been picky before, Rey just loved the chance to get to dress up in beautiful gowns for a night, but something felt different this time around. 

 

    “I'm so sorry.” Rey sighed, taking a seat down on the edge of her bed and feeling awful for the girl they'd sent over to help her with all of these gowns. 

 

    “Don't be, the right dress is important” She shrugged off with a smile; she was around Rey's age - young, blonde, and in love with fashion, Rey could tell from the way she looked at all the dresses. “Sounds to me though that you're trying to catch someone's eye. Am I right?” 

 

    Rey hadn't put much thought into it before, she had been thinking about Poe Dameron, perhaps a bit more than she should have. She heard about how he used to be, how the biggest star in the world right now - Natalie Ryan - broke his heart, and now all that anyone seemed to know about him were whispers they heard from others; he'd turned from a legend to a myth almost overnight. Yet after meeting him once, she found herself wanting to see him again, wanting to know more about him. 

 

    “Maybe.” Rey shrugged, she didn't know about Poe yet, but she was curious to know more. 

 

    “You should have said so from the beginning, I've got just the thing.” The girl smiled, pulling a dress out from underneath the pile of rejected dresses. 

 

    It was pure purple, silk and shining in the light, floor length and strapless; Rey's eyes lit up almost immediately. 

 

    “It's beautiful.” Rey smiled, not being able to help but reach out and run her fingers over the fabric. 

 

    “If a man doesn't notice you and this, then he's hopeless.” She said. “Wanna try it on?” 

 

    “Of course.” Rey beamed, eager to see how the dress looked on her. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Poe felt almost human for the first time in a long time, he hadn't shaved in a while and seeing that beard off of his face revealed a whole new man, one he hadn't seen in a very long while. 

 

    “Now you look like the guy from those old pictures again.” Finn said as he came into the room just as the barber was finishing up. 

 

    “Seems like it was a while ago.” Poe said. 

 

    “Seven months isn't that bad, some people disappear for years, some don't come back. If you ask me though, people could use more stories like yours.” Finn sighed. 

 

    “Thanks. I'll pretend that you weren't paid to say that.” Poe said. 

 

    “I'm paid to make sure you get from point A to point B, you're movies are the whole reason why I came to this town in the first place.” Finn admitted. “We gotta get you going though, Mrs. Organa-Solo told me to make sure you're not late.” 

 

    “Does she really have you call her that?” Poe asked with a smirk. 

 

    “No, it just feels better than saying Leia, she's my boss after all, and she kinda scares me.” Finn said and Poe couldn't help but laugh. 

 

    “Join the club.” Poe commented. 

 

* * *

  
  


    “Rey, sweetie, you look beautiful.” Leia said, wrapping her arms around Rey as soon as she walked into the gala. “Jane always does a good job.”

 

    “Sorry I’m late.” Rey sighed, pulling out of the hug and trying to straighten out her dress, more out of nerves than anything else. “It took a while to get this thing on.” 

 

    “All the good dresses take forever.” Leia smirked. 

 

    Rey looked around the room, not that she was looking for anyone in particular, well, no one except for Poe, she stopped looking when she spotted him. He looked entirely different from the last time she saw him, his hair was shorter, his beard was gone, he was smiling and enjoying a drink and she didn’t want to admit it, but he looked damn good in a suit. As soon as he glanced away from the group surrounding him, his eyes landed on her and his whole expression shifted, he just stared at her as his features softened and looked at her like she was something otherworldly. Rey felt a bit over exposed, her shoulders were bare except for the ends of her hair skirting her shoulders and the diamond necklace she wore, yet she liked that his gaze was fixated on her and only her. Rey wasn’t quite sure how long she would have stayed like that, until she heard commotion beside her and realized Leia was trying to talk to her. 

 

    “Oh, I’m sorry, what was that?” Rey asked, a faint blush crossing her cheeks for letting herself get so distracted. 

 

    “It’s fine, it’s a big night, I was just saying I have to go talk to some suits, most of the men here are creeps, just stay close to either Han, Poe, or if you need to my son Ben is here too, black hair over by the bar, you’ll notice him, he looks just like his father.” Leia assured her. “If someone starts bother you, brush them off and have one of the guys deal with them, alright?” 

 

    “Okay.” Rey nodded.

 

* * *

  
  


    It didn’t take long for the men to swarming around Rey, the minute Leia left her alone, he watched and they all drifted over to her at a steady pace. Poe excused himself from his conversation and marched right over there, he’d never forget that flicker of relief that crossed Rey’s face the minute she noticed him. 

 

    “Excuse me boys, so sorry. Where have you been, hon? I’ve been looking all over for you.” Poe put his arm around Rey’s waist and pulled her close, the men drifted off. 

 

    “Thanks for that.” Rey said. 

 

    “No problem.” Poe reassured her. “Want a drink?” 

 

    “Sure.” Rey said as Poe ordered a drink for her from the bar. 

 

    It didn’t take them long to find a seat somewhere around the room and just start talking about anything and everything that came to mind while they were sipping on their drinks. Rey talked about growing up in London falling in love with the theater, she talked about the first time she took to the stage when she was only ten, and of course all the embarrassing moments that came with it. Poe talked a bit about his past, how he fell in love with writing mostly and how he came to meet Han and Leia, the best story he had though was the day he adopted BB-8 - his faithful companion for some time now. 

 

    “Well, I’ll certainly have to meet him some time.” Rey said with a broad grin. “He sounds like quite the charmer.” 

 

    “Sometimes I swear that dog loves everybody.” Poe laughed, picturing BB-8’s big grin and tongue hanging out, desperately trying to climb into Rey’s lap the minute he’d meet her. 

 

    Poe would have been more than content with talking to Rey for the rest of the night, he actually  _ enjoyed _ having a conversation with her, he should have known that a decent evening would come to an end sooner or later. He’d always be able to pick her out of the crowd - long brown hair, blue eyes, dressed in her signature red, and of course those bright red lips. 

 

    “Damn it.” Poe hissed under his breath, Rey turned to try and find what he was looking at and froze when she spotted Natalie as well. “I’m guessing you’ve heard the lovely tale then judging by that look.” 

 

    “Bits and pieces.” Rey admitted, shrugging her shoulders and turning back to face Poe. “Not all of it.” 

 

    “We’ll save that for another time.” Poe got up from his seat and offered his hand to Rey to help her up as well, the last thing he wanted to do was just leave Rey, but he also didn’t care for running into Natalie, she had a habit of showing up whenever things tried to change for the better after her wake of destruction. “I think I’m gonna call it a night, do you have anyone else here?” 

 

    “I think I’ll go too, it’s getting late and I have a photoshoot in the morning.” Rey explained, taking Poe’s hand and getting to her feet. 

 

    “I’ll walk you out to your car.” Poe offered her his arm which she gratefully took. 

 

    They were weaving their way through the crowd pretty smoothly, until an over enthusiastic voice stopped them dead in their tracks. 

 

    “Poe Dameron, is that really you?” Her voice was as sickly sweet as ever, her broad fake grin splashed across her face, she’d mastered putting on a performance and Poe could never deny that she was certainly one hell of an actress in nearly every aspect of life. “I haven’t seen you in ages.” 

 

    “For a reason, generally people who seperate tend to avoid each other.” Poe replied grimly, turning to face his worst nightmare and Rey still clinging to his arm, her grip seemed to be a bit tighter than he remembered. 

 

    “You always were such a cynical man.” Natalie continued to grin, unaffected by Poe. “It’s good to see you haven’t become the ghost everyone’s been talking about.” Her gaze drifted over to Rey and Poe felt his stomach starting to twist in knots. “Oh, hello there dear, I’m Natalie, and you are…?”

 

    “Rey Skywalker.” Rey started, giving her a fake grin as well. 

 

    “Lovely to meet you, are you two here together?” Natalie asked curiously. 

 

    Poe was about to interrupt with something to take them off the topic, but Rey spoke up before he could. 

 

    “Yes, we’ve been dating for a while.” Rey lied, planting a kiss on Poe’s cheek and leaving him in a bit of shock, trying to process what exactly she was doing. 

 

    “Oh, that’s lovely!” Natalie’s voice seemed to get an octave higher, Poe knew that telltale sign, she was  _ seething _ . “You’re a bit young though, aren’t you darling? Are you sure you’re legal with this one?” Natalie asked Poe with a laugh before turning back to Rey. “Then again he always did like the young and pretty ones, well, at least until he didn’t think they were young and pretty anymore. How long did girls last around you before me, honey?” Natalie asked Poe. 

 

    “None of your business anymore,  _ honey _ .” Poe gave it right back to her, something that had once been a term of endearment between them had become the daggers they sunk into each other's sides whenever they could. “I’d love to stay and chat, but Rey and I have a busy day tomorrow, we really have to go.” 

 

    “Oh, I’m sure you have a busy night as well.” Natalie mumbled out with a smile still on her face. “Best of luck to you both.” 

 

    Poe never wanted to leave a party faster in his entire life after that encounter. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Once they were out of the party and out in the cold summer air, walking over to the valet, Poe had one burning question on his mind. 

 

    “Back there...why did you say we were together?” Poe asked, breaking the silence between them. 

 

    “I know some of the story of what happened between the two of you, just whispers really.” Rey sighed. “And I know some pretty nasty stories about her just being an awful person. I figured it would make her mad and judging by the look on her face, she was pretty mad.” A small smile crept it’s way onto Rey’s lips and Poe couldn’t help but smile back. 

 

    “Yeah, she has this awful habit of trying to make everyone around her miserable, she hates the thought of others being happy. Thanks.” Poe said. 

 

    “Anything for a friend.” Rey shrugged. “...If we’re friends, that is.” 

 

    “Of course.” Poe nodded. Something about the word  _ friends _ just seemed wrong, but he barely knew her and she barely knew him, and he wasn’t about to revert back to his old ways with someone like Rey, so friends would just have to fit for now. 

 

* * *

  
  
    Poe went home that night, a smile still present on his face somehow, and a feeling of something he hadn’t felt in quite sometime. He had an urge to write, a desperate need, telling him that if he didn’t sit down and write at this very moment that he would drop dead. He missed that need, and spending a few hours with Rey seemed to bring it back; he didn’t want to call her his muse, that was something he used to label the endless string of women he brought into his life and quickly kicked to the curb, she was certainly more than that. She was a spark, she reignited something in him, something he thought was long extinguished; Rey was more than a muse, she was a spark that was about to set a fire ablaze. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I always get a bit nervous when writing a new chapter for this fic because I'm petrified that I'll screw it up one chapter, but hopefully this isn't the chapter! I still love writing it with all my heart though, this is by far the most creative I've ever gotten with a fic :3 P.S. Yes, yes I did name a movie in this chapter after another Panic! At The Disco song, I've been listening to the new album a lot.

         In three days, Poe managed to write just about an entire first half of a script, it was certainly more than he’d written in a long time. It felt like something worth celebrating, grabbing a couple of friends and heading down to his favorite bar - The Cantina - and having some fun. The problem was, however, Poe didn’t have any friends...not anymore at least, and the one he managed to have was not someone he wanted to drag out to a bar in the middle of the day, Rey was much better than that. All of this left Poe with only one option.

 

    “I’m gonna get changed, grab the keys to my car and be ready to go.” Poe said as he walked out of his office and passed through the living room, heading straight over to his bedroom.

 

    “Go? Go where? You don’t have any meetings today.” Finn was incredibly confused, and apparently completely relaxed as he was sitting on the sofa with BB-8 in his lap, rolled over onto his back and waiting for Finn to scratch his stomach.

 

    “I’m more than halfway done with a new script, we’re going out to a bar and celebrating.” Poe stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the entire world.

 

    “You want to celebrate at a bar at one in the afternoon?” Finn asked.

 

    Everything was said in Poe’s glare, he knew FInn shouldn’t honestly be surprised by his actions, all he did was drink - well - up until three days ago, all he did was drink.

 

    “Alright, I’ll get the keys.” Finn broke down with a sigh, scooping BB-8 up out of his lap and grabbing his jacket, getting prepared for whatever the rest of the day held for him.

 

    “That’s the spirit.” Poe smirked as he walked off, shutting the door to his bedroom behind him.

 

* * *

 

  


    It didn’t take long for Poe to piece together that Finn wasn’t a frequent bar patron, he seemed uncomfortable almost the minute he walked in the door, but the minute Poe got to talking to whoever was around him, Finn seemed to join in and slowly relax.

 

    “You’re seriously going to drink root beer while we’re here?” Poe asked with a grin, downing his third glass of whiskey and just starting to feel the warmth of the liquor creep up on him.

 

    “One of us has to stay sober and it clearly isn’t gonna be you.” Finn laughed.

 

    “Fair enough.” Poe said as he ordered another drink, he hadn’t had a few drinks to actually celebrate anything in a long time, he was starting to feel pretty good.

 

    “I’m heading to the bathroom, I’ll be back in a bit.” Finn said, drinking the last of his root beer before walking off towards his destination.

 

    The Cantina was filled with the usual crew, a mixture of people who more than likely belonged elsewhere and somehow made this place home, and the people who came here everyday like clockwork - it was part of their routine. Poe liked it here, he felt comfortable, he used to come here far more often before his writing career actually took off, and for a while it was tainted with the memories of Natalie on the nights he’d bring her here and show her off, his best friend Scott unknowingly eyeing Natalie before they were sleeping together in his bed. He tried to push those memories aside, before it used to be nearly impossible, now it seemed almost hopeful, there was a life after Natalie Ryan and he was finally starting to live it. Or at least he was starting to, until she sat beside him in a tight black dress with a low cut back, those red lips smiling right at him.

 

    “You come here often?” She asked with a playful grin.

 

    “What do you want?” Poe asked flatly, he should have known with her back in town that she’d go just about everywhere he used to take her, he had to make a mental note to start avoiding these places until she left town again.

 

    “I’m surprised to see you here.” Natalie admitted with a sigh, though her smile never faltered. “How long has it been since that party? Three days? Shouldn’t you still be buried between that pretty little girls thighs? It used to be a week right? A whole week locked in that bedroom of yours and then they were history.”

 

    “That’s none of your business, leave Rey out of this.” Poe snapped.

 

    “I heard that you changed, after I left, you kept to yourself and hid in that mansion, drinking your days away. But as soon as I saw you at that party with that sweet little thing latched onto your arm, I knew you hadn’t changed, you just went back to how things used to be.” Natalie laughed. “You’re going to break that poor girl’s heart, well, if she doesn’t break yours first.”

 

    “Rey’s not like that, she’s not like you.” Poe stated, he didn’t know much about Rey in all honesty, but he knew she was nothing like Natalie.

 

    “Be honest, honey.” Natalie grinned and placed her hand on Poe’s arm. “Four years ago when you met me, did you think this all would have happened? No, I was just a sweet little girl from Arkansas who had a big dream, and managed to capture the heart of Hollywood’s biggest and brightest writer, who slept her way into some of the best roles around. Do you honestly think little miss London is really as sweet as she looks?”

 

    “Rey is _not_ like you.” Poe lashed out, pulling his arm away from her grasp.

 

    “Whatever you say.” Natalie rose from her seat now, Poe relieved that she was going to be taking her leave. “If you keep this one around too long, don’t be surprised if she starts using you to her advantage.”

 

    By the time she left his side, Poe’s blood was boiling, Natalie had a habit of doing that anymore and he almost found it hard to believe that there was ever a time where he truly loved her. She just waltzed up and started saying Rey was going to be just like her, that wasn’t the girl he got to know in that short amount of time. But now there was a nagging voice of doubt in the back of his head, asking him just how well he knew the girl who had consumed his thoughts, the girl who made him practically sprint home and right to the typewriter, typing until his eyes were dwindling shut and his fingers were sore.

 

    “What’s wrong?” Finn asked, finally returning to his side and taking a sip of his root beer.

 

    “Finish your drink and let’s get out of here.” Poe sighed. “Where’s Leia today?”

 

    “She’s at the studio, they’re filming ‘ _House of Memories_ ’ today.” Finn said, Poe swore he’d heard of the movie before, probably from Leia in passing, but he didn’t remember much about it.

 

    “Let’s go then, I want to talk to her.” Poe said.

 

* * *

 

  


    It’d been so long since Poe had stepped foot into the entrance of the Millennium Falcon Studios, everything seemed foreign, so much always managed to change on a studio lot in such a short amount of time.

 

    “What studio lot is she on?” Poe asked, looking at all the newly numbered buildings that had been put in up in the past year or so.

 

    “I think the movies  on seven, she should be there still.” Finn shrugged.

 

    “Okay.” Poe nodded, determined to find the studio lot.

 

    They walked around a bit, getting lost at taking wrong turns, until Poe was thankful to finally find the seventh studio, walking right into the middle of them filming just ahead of him. He caught a few glares that were short lived as he walked into the studio, they looked the other direction once they realized who he was and went back to their work. The actors didn’t seem phased by the sudden interruption, carrying on as if nothing happened, and had Poe not been searching every face in the room trying to find Leia, he was sure he would have missed seeing Rey on the set, her hair and makeup perfectly done and dressed in a dark green dress that hugged her perfectly.

 

    “Poe, she’s over here.” Finn whispered, pointing out Leia sitting in one of the chairs not far behind the camera man.

 

    Rey saw him, he was sure of that, her brown eyes landed on his for just a fraction of a second as she tried to mask a smile and focus on her work. Poe walked over to Leia, trying to be as quiet as he could, while Finn stayed back and just took in the performance of the actors at work.

 

    “What the hell are you doing here?” Leia asked in a hushed tone as soon as Poe came into her sights.

 

    “Can you talk for a second?” Poe asked.

 

    Leia let out a heavy sigh before nodding, rising from her seat and following Poe back out the studio doors, this time far more quietly than his entrance.

 

    “So you just march into studios now? While in the middle of filming?” Leia asked.

 

    “I didn’t know.” Poe defended himself, giving her a shrug.

 

    “Well, what was so damn important?” Leia asked.

 

    “I just wanted to ask you about Rey.” Poe tried to say innocently.

 

    “Oh god, here we go again.” Leia mumbled. “You know, I seem to recall this exact conversation before you decided to fall madly in love with Natalie Ryan, who mind you, I advised you to avoid but you didn’t listen anyway. And by the way, I seem to recall asking you to watch over my niece, not sleep with her.”

 

    “Wait...your niece?” Poe asked in confusion. “She’s your niece?”

 

    “Yeah.” Leia admitted. “Her father, Luke, he’s my brother, my mother raised me and my father raised him once they split up, we didn’t even know the other existed for a long time. I found out I had a brother around the time I started dating Han. Once Rey got older and wanted to be an actress, I didn’t want anyone to think I was favoring her, so I told her to keep her father's last name and she’ll do just fine. Once she’s on her own two feet she can scream to the whole world we’re related.” Leia said.

 

    “Makes sense.” Poe said with a nod. “And just so you know, I haven’t slept with Rey.”

 

    “I know, she doesn’t have that ridiculous after sex glow that makes people unbearable sometimes.” Leia smirked. “I know you two are friends though, and she can inspire you all she wants, she’s twenty she can make her own choices. Let’s just try to keep the inspiration to some inspiration with the legs closed, alright?”

 

    “Alright.” Poe nodded, it was easier said than done considering Rey had started invading his dreams in an all too personal way.

 

    “Why did you come down here anyway? What made you so curious?” Leia asked.

 

    “I...I ran into Natalie down at the Cantina, I went with Finn, I finished about half of this new script. She just got under my skin, that’s all.” Poe mumbled.

 

    “Natalie was a snake in the grass, you couldn’t see her but now you know exactly what kind of person she is. Don’t let her get in your head anymore, you’ve been doing good the past few days...I hate to say it but I’m actually a little proud of you, half a script is more than you’ve done in a while.” Leia smiled. “Don’t let her screw it up.”

 

    “I won’t.” Poe promised.

 

    “Good, well, you’ve had your fun now, let Finn get you home and hopefully back to finishing that script, I want to read it when it’s done.” Leia insisted, opening up the door and giving a slight jump when she noticed there was someone on the other side already waiting. “Rey, god you scared me!” Leia hissed.

 

    “Sorry.” Rey mumbled and walked out the door past Leia. “I, uh, just wanted to talk to Poe for a minute.”

 

    Leia exchanged a glance between Poe and Rey, Poe was going to try to keep to his promise, but Rey made it so damn hard when she looked so beautiful.

 

    “Alright.” Leia sighed. “Five minutes and then they’re going to need you back in here.”

 

    Rey gave a nod before Leia walked through the door, once it was fully shut, Rey burst out into a wide grin.

 

    “What are you doing here?” Rey asked curiously.

 

    “I was just talking to Leia, I’ve been doing some writing, it should be done soon.” Poe said, he couldn’t help but feel a slight smile on his face now as well.

 

    “Would you mind if I read it?” Rey asked.

 

    “If you want, when it’s done.” Poe offered.

 

   “Do you have a pen and paper on you?” Rey asked, her hands starting to nervously tug at the hem of her dress and a slight flush on her cheeks past the blush they put on her.

 

    “I think so.” Poe reached around in his pockets, pulling out a slightly crumpled piece of paper and a pen from his shirt pocket, flattening out the paper a bit before handing both over to Rey.

 

   She used the wall as something to write on, scribbling for a minute or two before handing both back over to Poe.

 

    “Give me a call once it’s done.” Rey said, biting on her bottom lip out of nerves getting to her afterwards. “I’d love to read it.”

 

    “Yeah...I’ll call you.” Poe smiled.

 

    “I should probably get back in there.” Rey said. “I’ll, um, hear from you soon, hopefully.” Rey gave a nervous smile before pushing the door open and running back inside before Poe could say another word.

  
    Poe glanced down at the crumpled up paper, Rey’s perfect cursive writing spelling out her name, and the heart she took the liberty of drawing beside it, followed by her phone number. He didn’t want to rush his writing, but after seeing that smile on her face, he wanted to write straight through the night if it meant he got to see Rey again. Something began to tell him that he wouldn’t be able to keep his promise to Leia for very long if Rey kept making him feel like this.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, as promised, there is more Rey & Poe interaction in this chapter, in fact it's pretty much the whole chapter, ENJOY! :3

    Rey waited, every day for a week, as soon as she was done filming for the day she would come home and wait. She wasn’t doing it on purpose, or at least she told herself that, she would try and occupy herself with a million other things, but her mind would always wander to waiting for that phone to ring. It was foolish and childish to want to hear from Poe Dameron so badly, he could still have his pick of women from anywhere around the world, and here she was harboring a schoolgirl crush on him, desperately hoping that he’ll call her. Every phone call would bring false hope, but it wasn’t until her one day off for the week that the phone rang and it happened to be the one call she was waiting for. 

 

    “Hello?” Rey answered lazily, she was exhausted from working the night before and though it was well on it’s way into the afternoon, she was still lying in bed in her pajamas. 

 

    “Hey, it’s Poe.” Poe sounded a bit awkward, but Rey didn’t really pick up on that as she bolted upright in bed, suddenly far more awake than she had been a few seconds ago. 

 

    “Oh, Poe, hi.” Rey didn’t know what else to really say, she’d been waiting for this call for so long and suddenly...there it was. 

 

    “Are you busy today?” He asked. 

 

    “Uh, no, not all - I mean, not really.” Rey was trying her best not to sound desperate, as if she hadn’t been hopelessly waiting for this call.

 

    “Well, if you’re not busy, do you want to come over? I finished the script and, uh, if you want to read it or go over it-” 

 

    “I’d love to!” Rey quickly interrupted, wincing at how eagerly she just answered and hoping she didn’t sound like an idiot. 

 

    “Great!” Poe’s voice perked up a bit as well. “Uh, do you know where Wilson Street is? If you don’t I can come and pick you up if that’s easier.” 

 

    “That’d probably be better, I’m still learning my way around the city.” Rey laughed a bit, she was still hopelessly lost most of the time and often had to have someone from the studio come and bring her in. 

 

    “Alright, when do you want me to come over and pick you up?” Poe asked. 

 

    Rey nervously tried to think of all the things she had to do to make herself presentable before Poe would come over. “Uh, I should be ready in an hour, I have a few last minute things to take care of.” 

 

    “Okay, I’ll be there, what’s your address?” Poe asked. 

 

    “402 Wallace Drive.” Rey answered right away, that much she managed to remember. 

 

    “I got it, I’ll see you in an hour.” Poe said. 

 

    “Alright, see you in an hour.” Rey answered, hanging up the phone. 

 

    As soon as she was free of the phone, Rey got out of bed and scrambled around her room, quickly trying to gather her things for the shower and finding an outfit to wear. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Rey was just pulling herself together right as she heard a knock at her door, smoothing out the bottom of her skirt as she ran to the door. She pulled the door open and came face to face with a rather surprised looking Poe, his eyes wide and locked on her. 

 

    “Hey, you look...you look great.” Poe managed to say, his eyes drifting up and down before they rested on her eyes again. 

 

    “Thanks.” Rey said, trying to hide how fast she’d been rushing around just seconds ago to ensure she was ready in time. 

 

    She was wearing a white flowy blouse, something she hadn’t had the chance to wear that often yet since she arrived in Hollywood, between being stuffed in dresses and dragged into studios; and she wore a dark blue skirt that hugged against her thighs until it reached just above her knees. Rey also managed to get her ‘lucky’ black high heels on along with getting her makeup done rather quickly. She’d gotten lucky with her hair, it wasn’t all that terrible and didn’t take to long to pin certain parts back and set the rest into curls. 

 

    “Uh, ready to go?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Yeah.” Rey nodded with a smile, locking her door and pulling it closed behind her and double checking that she had her purse with her. 

 

    “Care to go for a ride before we head to the house? I figured since it was a nice day out.” Poe said as he made his way to the car, the top down on his bright red convertible and ready for a drive. 

 

    “Sure.” Rey smiled. “I haven’t seen much of the city yet.” 

 

    “Alright, well let’s go for a ride.” Poe grinned, opening up the passenger door for Rey. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Poe took Rey just about everywhere he could think of before heading home, he loved seeing Rey’s reactions to the place, but he knew he was pushing something away, more than just her reading his script. Being out in the world, around people and under their constant gaze, it kept Poe from wanting to put his arm around Rey, or from wanting to steal a kiss no matter how bright she smiled - being out was just about as effect as Leia staring him down herself. As the day dragged on and there was little else to show her, Poe finally brought Rey back to his house, Finn gone for the day and an energetic BB-8 rushing towards the door, barking like a maniac before pouncing on Rey’s legs. 

 

    “Hey, buddy, take it easy.” Poe tried to calm the little pug down and picked him up. Once BB-8 got a good sniff of Rey however, he finally relaxed and wagged his tail, wanting to know Rey more. 

 

    “So this is Beebee-Ate?” Rey asked with a grin as she pet the little pug, his tail wagging even more as she did so. “How did he end up with that name?” 

 

    “What I usually say is it was the name he came with down at the shelter, his real name was Bernie. He got Beebee-Ate from a science fiction script I was working on a while ago, I thought I’d do something with it but, maybe it’s something for another time.” Poe laughed. “He doesn’t seem to mind it though, he listens to that more than Bernie.” 

 

    “I think it’s cute.” Rey smiled before pressing a kiss to BB-8’s nose, the little pug’s tongue starting to hang out while he formed some sort of grin. 

 

    “Yeah, he’s something.” Poe gave a slight grin before placing the little dog down, who then decided to follow Rey wherever she went. “You want anything to drink?” 

 

    “Sure.” Rey answered. 

 

    “Anything in particular?” Poe questioned. 

 

    “Whatever you're having will be fine.” Rey said. 

 

    “I’m having scotch, you sure you’re alright with that?” Poe asked to make sure that was what she really wanted. 

 

    “I can handle it.” Rey laughed. 

 

    “Alright, good to know.” Poe grinned. “Uh, living room is just down the hall, if you need the bathroom it’s up the stairs and the first door on the right, make yourself at home.” 

 

    “Okay.” Rey gave a slight nod before walking off, BB-8 trailing just behind her with his little paws clicking against the hardwood floor. 

 

    Poe was more than nervous, it’d been awhile since he’d let any woman other than Leia into his house, and the last one here wasn’t exactly the greatest experience. He’d tried his best to clean up earlier, Finn even helped out, but nothing could calm his nerves all the way. Now that he finally had a scotch in hand he knew it’d only be a matter of time before he would start being himself again, the trouble was he didn’t know if being himself around Rey was a good thing or not.  _ He _ wanted to pull Rey in for a passionate kiss, let his hands wander and roam over her curves, he wanted her to ignite that fire in him that had been out for far too long; what he  _ had _ to do however was very different, he had to pretend that Rey didn’t want to make him kiss every inch of her, or that he didn’t want her curled up beside him, that he didn’t want her touch. He made a promise to Leia after all, he was suppose to watch over Rey, not drag her into something as complicated as his life, or as horrible as his habits. 

 

    “Here you go, one scotch.” Poe held out the glass to her as he sat beside her in the living room, BB-8 already curled up in her lap and happily snoring, claiming Rey to officially be his. Poe thought of it as a sign of sorts, all he ever did was bark at Natalie and chew on her shoes, he was never anywhere near this affectionate with her. 

 

    “Thanks.” Rey said and took a small sip before placing it down on the table in front of her, where there also just so happened to be a script. 

 

    “Looks like someone fell in love with you already.” Poe laughed, scratching the pug behind the ears and getting nothing in response but a loud snore. 

 

    “Cutest boyfriend I’ve ever had.” Rey joked, pressing another kiss to the little dog's head. “Is that the script?” 

 

    “Yeah, go ahead, have a look. I’ll go put the radio on or something, you hungry?” Poe asked, there his nerves were again, crawling up on him as he tried to push them down with another sip of his drink. 

 

    “Alright.” Rey smiled, picking up the script as he made his way quickly out of the room, he couldn’t understand it but it was something that always bothered him - people reading what he wrote while he was right there beside them. “Uh, a little hungry I guess.” 

 

    “I’ll make us dinner.” Poe replied, making his way back to the kitchen after he turned the radio on. 

 

    “You can cook?” Rey called out curiously. 

 

    “Yes, I actually can, I learned how to fend for myself, which included learning how to cook.” Poe called back. 

 

    “Alright, I trust you.” He could hear Rey giggling from the other room. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Rey had to admit that Poe always had talent, every single one of his movies always had been great, but to have the honor of reading what he’s just written before it’s even filmed. It was heart wrenching in the beginning, what he’d written was fueled by so much pain and loneliness that she knew without a doubt it came directly from his heart, from the heart of someone who felt that pain. The middle sparked up hope, and the ending left you with a feeling completely opposite from the beginning, there was a warmth that spread through her, a happiness she rarely felt once she finally reached the ending. She somehow managed to finish it just in time as well, right as she set the script back on the table and the little pug in her lap finally woke up, Poe called out. 

 

    “I hope you’re hungry, dinner is ready!” Poe called, Rey could smell it halfway through reading, it smelled delicious whatever it was. 

 

    Rey got up off the sofa, BB-8 not far behind her, as they made their way into the kitchen - greeted by the sight and smell of a freshly cooked dinner. Poe held out a seat for Rey and couldn’t help but noticed the adorable little plate Poe had for BB-8 on the other side of the kitchen, stacked up with pasta and what looked like cut up pieces of meatballs. 

 

    “No wonder he loves you so much, you spoil him to death.” Rey giggled as she nodded towards the little pug, munching away on his meal. 

 

    “Only sometimes.” Poe grinned. 

 

    “How did you learn to make all of this?” Rey asked as Poe served her food before taking a seat. 

 

    “Leia, she got worried about me after...well, after Natalie. I guess I was looking like I wasn’t eating enough or something, she’d come over once a week and teach me something new to make until I started to look ‘more like myself’ as she put it.” Poe shrugged. 

 

    “I didn’t think she could cook this good.” Rey said as she dug into her pasta, the smell from the past hour making her more and more hungry by the second. 

 

    “I may have tweaked a few things, he heart was in the right place but some of it I had to change, please don’t tell her.” Poe laughed. 

 

    “I won’t I promise.” Rey smirked. 

 

   Their dinner was joyous, they laughed, Rey told him - no,  _ insisted _ \- that he had to let Leia read his script and give her opinion on it, and they kept to almost entirely joyful things during their conversation. Rey was genuinely surprised by how well Poe could cook, despite Leia’s lessons, and complimented him with that about as often as she told him his new story was wonderful. Poe was different compared to her, he slipped compliments in with the rest of some other sentence, bury it so that Rey would barely register he was actually telling her that she looked lovely tonight, or that he liked listening to her laugh. By the time they finished eating, Rey didn’t want to go home, but Poe offered her a ride and she knew it was time to leave. She said her goodbyes to BB-8 and gathered her things before walking out the front door and getting into the car. 

 

    She almost dreaded the sight of her house, it meant her day was over and who knew when she’d get to see Poe again, she had no real reason to see him again other than at gatherings for the studio. She harbored this little crush on him, while he’s got a good ten plus years on her and was probably more interested in having relationships with women and not silly young things like her. Rey opened up the door of the car, getting ready to say her goodbyes and take her leave, but when Poe grabbed her wrist, it made her stop in her tracks. 

 

    “What is it?” Rey asked, a slight flutter in her chest once she noticed how his dark brown eyes bored into hers. 

 

    “I, uh...you forgot your purse.” Poe handed it to her, though Rey could tell by looking at him that it wasn’t what he really wanted to say. 

 

   “That all?” Rey asked, hoping he’d just spit it out already. 

 

    “Not really, no.” Poe’s voice was just above a whisper now, his eyes still locked on hers, and Rey was more than sure the distance between them was getting smaller and smaller. Did he actually want to kiss her? 

 

    Before Rey’s mind could wander any further, Poe answered her question by leaning in and stealing a kiss. His lips were soft and gentle at first, not much to the kiss, but once Rey kissed back, it was like something inside of both of them had sparked - hands in each others hair, one of Poe’s free hands wandering down the side of her skirt before resting right on her waist, and hand Poe’s elbow not knocked into the car horn that caused both of them to jolt apart, Rey was more than sure that kiss was heading somewhere else. 

 

    “Sorry.” Poe mumbled as he pulled away from her, his hand leaving her arm though Rey didn’t want it to. 

 

    “Don’t be.” Rey assured him as a smile crossed her face. 

 

    “I, I shouldn’t have done that, I-” 

 

    Rey shut him up by pressing another kiss to his lips, something much more mild than before, but it had heart behind it. She wanted nothing more than to keep kissing Poe and the fact that it was actually happening was more than unbelievable. 

 

    “Don’t be sorry about kissing me.” Rey grinned as she pulled away. “I wanted you to.” 

 

    “Why?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Because...I like you.” Rey admitted, a slight blush creeping up on her cheeks while she bit her bottom lip. 

 

    Poe leaned over and kissed Rey again now, it was a quick kiss, nothing more, but it was one that finally left him with a smile. 

 

    “When do you have some time again?” Poe asked curiously. 

 

    “Sunday.” Rey answered right away. 

 

    “How about a Sunday brunch?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Sounds good to me.” Rey was beaming now, pressing a kiss to Poe’s cheek. “I’ll see you Sunday.” 

  
    Without another word, she got out of the car, a smile still plastered on her face, and Poe lingered around until he was sure she got inside her house alright. Poe knew now without a doubt that he was in trouble, Rey was going to be the end of him, and for the first time in a while, he didn’t actually care about what may happen from falling for someone else, especially someone like Rey.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This was one of those chapters where I wrote down what I wanted to happen and then ended up writing the exact opposite. It happens sometimes but it must have worked because I wrote a lot more for this chapter than I expected! Enjoy, and I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day ;)

    It was so strange and new to suddenly have someone in his life again; someone who cared about him, someone to set him straight, a reason to get up in the morning, and someone to give a kiss to every night. Poe hadn’t had something like that in a while, longer than the seven months he’d been apart from Natalie, she stopped caring about him a while ago and he was too blindly in love with her to see it. Rey was innocent, and good, and he could see it every time she looked at him that she was in love, the faint spark in her eyes that was just itching to turn into a blazing fire - but god she was so  _ young.  _ Poe had a liking for the younger women, that was no secret around town in his past years, but Rey just seemed to be on the borderline of being far too young, not to mention the guilt slowly eating away at him every time they kissed that she was Leia’s niece, the only person who took care of him in his time of need and he was paying her back by seeing her niece when she specifically told him not to. 

 

    “Poe, are you alright?” Finn poked his head into Poe’s office, holding a cup of coffee in his hands and BB-8 at his feet. Poe honestly didn’t know what time it was, he’d lost track between editing his script and being lost in his thoughts, but there was still daylight streaming through the windows which told him he hadn’t been gone for very long. 

 

    “Fine, just thinking.” Poe grumbled, running a hand through his hair and more than grateful for the cup of coffee Finn sat in front of him. 

 

    “I heard Leia liked the first draft of your script.” Finn was desperately trying to strike up some conversation, Poe knew he’d been more than distant from almost everyone the past week since Rey fell into his life - he still couldn’t decide if that was good or bad. 

 

    “Yeah, yeah, she did. Just working on a few things.” Poe took a sip of his coffee, he was tempted to down the whole thing to get some energy in him. 

 

    “That’s good, I suppose that means you’ve got another movie coming soon, another one to add to the collection.” Finn gestured to the walls of the office, decorated with the posters of every movie Poe had ever written and a shelf with awards here and there, though there was one spot in the middle that Poe hoped to fill with an Oscar someday. 

 

    “With any luck, yeah.” Poe cracked a smile now. 

 

    It was then that Poe noticed something different about Finn, he was fidgety, a bit nervous looking - or more so than usual at least - and he wouldn’t stop adjusting his bow tie. 

 

    “Alright, spit it out Finn, what’s wrong?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Ah, well, I went through the paper from this morning and...it’s not on the front page, but there’s this.” Finn pulled a folded up page of the newspaper out of his pocket and handed it to Poe. 

 

    Poe slowly unfolded it some more until he was greeted with a picture of him and Rey, right there in front of his very eyes, from when they went and had lunch the other day and so carelessly kissed, as if they were two normal people who didn’t have a care in the world about who saw them kiss. The worst was the headline:  _ The Playboy Strikes Again With Rising New Starlet. _

 

    “This was in today’s paper?” Poe asked in a bit of disbelief. 

 

    “Yeah.” Finn responded. “I know you and Rey had talked about keeping things quiet but-” 

 

    “Looks like that’s over with.” Poe tossed the page aside and started trying to think of ways to not get murdered by Leia, or have Han sick Chewie on him. Poe got up from his chair and knew there was only one thing he could really do. 

 

    “Where are you going?” Finn asked. 

 

    “First, I’m going to go talk to Leia and hope she doesn’t kill me, and if I live past that, I’m taking Rey out to dinner.” Poe explained. He hoped he’d actually get to live to take Rey out to dinner, he could already picture the glare Leia would give him the minute he would set foot in her office. 

 

    “Sounds like a good plan.” Finn said. 

 

    “Good, it’s the only one I’ve got.” Poe sighed. “Wish me luck, buddy.” 

 

    “You’re going to need more than luck to face Leia.” Finn stated. 

 

    “...Thanks for the words of encouragement.” Poe mumbled. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Rey had faced down the paper with some horror this morning, she wasn’t even quite sure where she stood with Poe - aside from the lunches and kissing - and the world seemed to have already deemed them a couple. Not only that, but they managed to make her look as if she was just another silly and foolish girl, falling for the infamous charms of Poe Dameron, it made her think that just maybe she was. If that wasn’t bad enough, trying to explain everything to her older cousin, uncle, and aunt was even worse. 

 

    “You’re seriously dating that guy?” Ben had asked her with a bit of a snap in his tone, the two hadn’t gotten to know each other all that well in the few weeks Rey had been here, but well enough for Ben to already adopt the role of an older brother of sorts - trying desperately to keep her from the charms of men like Poe Dameron and her co-star Scott Ashwell. 

 

    “It’s none of your business who I may and may not date!” Rey lashed out at him. “Who said I was even dating him?” 

 

    “Well, kissing him seems like a pretty good indicator.” Han stated, he wasn’t yelling as his wife and son were, but his voice was stern and filled with what she could only identify as a twinge of disappointment. 

 

    “It was just a kiss! I’ve kissed plenty of men in my line of work and I’ve never dated a single one of them.” Rey protested, while she’d only kissed three men so far in her career (aside from Poe), she was trying desperately to make a statement. 

 

    “You’re job is different from your personal life.” Leia chimed in now. “I love Poe like a second son, I do-” 

 

    “Lousy second son.” Ben mumbled, earning a glare from Leia. 

 

    “But  _ dating _ Poe Dameron is not what I wanted for you.” Leia sighed. 

 

    “Why? Why is the sheer thought of dating Poe Dameron so horrible? Is it because of what he did all those years ago? That’s half of the men in Hollywood!” Rey knew the shouting would get her nowhere, but she couldn’t stand the thought of Poe being judged by the people closest to him for who he had been in the past. “Are you all forgetting the woman who tore him to pieces?” 

 

    “I don’t think anyone will ever forget Natalie.” Han grumbled. 

 

    “Poe was different with Natalie, that much is true, and it’s terrible what she turned out to be. But she hurt him, who is to say that he won’t go right back to breaking hearts? A broken man licking his wounds is a terrible thing to get tangled up in Rey. You’re the first girl he’s shown an interest in since Natalie, I just don’t want you to get hurt.” Leia gently rested a hand on Rey’s shoulder in an attempts to calm her down, it worked for a bit - or at least Rey let it work. “We don’t know how Poe will be. I trust Dameron with a lot of things, but the heart of my niece is not one of them.” 

 

    “So what? Are you all forbidding me from dating him?” Rey asked. 

 

    Han looked away, patting Chewie on the head who silently watched the whole affair, Han had a hard time saying no to Rey; especially after she learned how Han always wanted a girl to raise after having Ben, but due to complications Leia had while giving birth to Ben, he was their only child. Leia remained quiet, her expression blank for the first time since this morning - she wanted to be angry, Rey could tell, but she just couldn’t bring herself to it. 

 

    “We should.” Ben grumbled. “I should go to his house and tell him to stay the hell away from you.” 

 

    “Beating people up won’t get you anywhere, kid.” Hand finally broke his silence in attempts to calm his son down. 

 

    “I can’t believe this...I’m twenty! I can make my own choices!” Rey hissed, pulling away from Leia’s grasp now, and staring her family down with watery eyes. 

 

    “Rey, sweetheart, just calm down, we’re only trying to protect you from something that may break your heart in the end.” Leia sighed. 

 

    “If he breaks my heart, he breaks my heart. Everyone has their heart broken at some point in their lives, you can’t protect me from it. How many times have you three had your hearts broken?” Rey asked, the room fell silent. “Exactly! It happened to all three of you, it will happen to me, it’s something everyone in the world goes through. I want to keep seeing Poe, I don’t care what you three think of him, if I want to see him I will, even if you choose to forbid me from seeing him - I’m an adult, I make choices of my own.” 

 

    “Okay.” Leia said simply. “Okay.” 

 

    Leia walked off with Han tailing after her, Chewie staying for a moment before following after his owner. Ben was the only one who stayed behind, taking a seat on the sofa in the Organa-Solo family living room with a sigh. 

 

    “Why do you hate Poe so much?” Rey couldn’t help but ask as soon as Leia and Han were gone, walking up towards Ben slowly before pausing right beside him. 

 

    “When you love someone who’s been broken, it’s hard not to hate the person who broke them.” Ben said, staring up at Rey now. She knew he’d been seeing a girl, someone a bit older than him, and from what she heard she was pretty - red hair and blue eyes, someone who had a shot once and threw it away - it didn’t take her long to piece together whoever he was with had once been with Poe. “Just...don’t give someone everything, especially if they give you nothing, alright?” 

 

    “Alright.” Rey responded quietly. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Rey sat outside Leia’s office in the studio now, shooting had wrapped for the day and she had heard whispers that her ‘ _ boyfriend’ _ Poe Dameron was getting an earful from Leia. She wasn’t surprised to hear talking coming from the other side of the door as she took a seat, straightening out her yellow dress and fixing her necklace. She just wanted to see Poe more than anything, Rey didn’t care what everyone thought, she just wanted to seek comfort and embrace the one person who wouldn’t judge her for her actions - and that one person just so happened to be in the other room. Rey almost jumped out of her skin as soon as Leia’s door opened, Poe walking out and looking a little worse for wear, but not too awful. She lept out of the chair and wrapped her arms around him instantly, not giving him much time to think or react, but feeling more than relieved when she felt his arms wrap around her waist and bury his head into her shoulder. 

 

    “I’m sorry I didn’t call or-” 

 

    “Don’t.” Rey said right away, taking the time to pull him a bit closer and hope their embrace could last a minute longer. “It’s been a hectic day.” 

 

    “I know. I should have known they would have seen us sooner or later, they’ve been like vultures around me since Natalie, just waiting for someone new.” Poe mumbled into her hair before pulling away, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this.” 

 

    “Did we honestly think no one would notice?” Rey asked with a bit of a smile on her lips. She wanted to hope it would have been longer before someone noticed, but part of her knew they didn’t have a chance in the world.

 

    “I think we hoped no one would.” Poe gave her a smirk, one she had grown fond of in such a short period of time. “But, cat’s out of the bag...care to join me for dinner?” 

 

    “I suppose I could. That’s what couples do, right?” Rey dared to ask, calling them a couple for the first time themselves instead of listening to others say it in hushed whispers. 

 

    “That’s part of what couples do, yeah.” Poe answered with a grin. “Pick a place, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.” 

  
    Rey leaned in and stole a kiss from his lips, she could kiss him whenever she wanted now, and somehow it felt freeing and dangerous all at the same time. But as Leia looked out her door before shutting it with a sigh, Rey couldn’t help but be reminded of her cousins warning, his words weighing the most on her mind more than anyone else’s. She tried to push it out of her head as Poe linked their arms together and strolled out of the studio arm in arm, but every time she looked at Poe’s handsome face now, all she could think about was those haunting words. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I wanted this chapter to have a cliffhanger, hopefully I succeeded? Either way, I hope you guys enjoy it!

    Rey spent the better part of the next two weeks looking through old newspapers, seeing picture after picture of Poe with a different girl, only for there to be a completely different one in as little as a week later. She didn’t want to go down this path, she knew all about the girls before she even started liking Poe, but seeing their faces - their names - realizing that they were in fact very real people once in her position, or something like it, were all right there in front of her face now and she just couldn’t shake the feeling of that she might end up being just another one of those faces. Then there was Natalie - in every picture with Poe for nearly four years - as beautiful and stunning as she had been when Rey came face to face with her, now revealed to be a snake in the grass but still nothing short of beautiful. Then there was her picture, the latest one of her and Poe kissing, another face in the endless line of faces, and she had no idea how long she’d be there before her heart got broken. Because it would eventually happen, wouldn’t it? Poe would break her heart and she had accepted that fate, but how far would he let her fall before he broke it? 

 

    “Rey?” Someone called out, Rey closed up the old newspaper and looked up to see her co-star, Scott Ashwell, looking at her in a more than confused and concerned way. “Are you alright?” 

 

    “Sorry, just, uh, lost in thought.” Rey sighed and put the newspaper aside; her and Poe were fine, she shouldn’t let all of this nonsense get in her head - but it was there and Rey couldn’t forget it now. 

 

    “They’re getting the set ready for the next shot, they’re going to need us out there in a few minutes.” Scott told her. 

 

    “Right, thanks.” Rey nodded as Scott walked off. 

 

    Scott was handsome enough; tall, blond hair, blue eyes, and he seemed to be kind enough in nature - if Rey had a brain in her head she would have chosen someone safe like Scott to have feelings for instead of the wildcard writer with a history of breaking hearts and a few laws here and there. Rey knew she couldn’t go on with doubts like these, she would have to talk to Poe at some point about it, Rey knew talking about it would either end their relationship or perhaps make it stronger, either way she had to find out. For now however, Rey had to put her thoughts of Poe aside and get back to work, though she had to admit that the doubts she had now just may help her act out the doubts of her character in the film. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Poe was going to take Rey out on a proper date tonight, he’d taken her to lunch and had her over at the house for breakfast, but they’d never gone out for dinner at some fancy restaurant like most couples did just yet. He also planned on officially asking her to be his girlfriend tonight, to make sure she had no doubts about just how much he cared about her. Poe wanted more of Rey in his life, he was utterly enchanted by her, and she had managed to get him to write again simply by just being her. The final draft of  _ Death of a Bachelor _ had turned out being more of a love note to Rey than Poe initially expected, he had no idea if he and Rey would ever reach the point of marriage as the characters had by the end of the script, but Poe hoped somewhere deep down in his heart that Rey was finally the one. But, it was a step at a time process, he had to figure out if Rey truly wanted to be with him in some capacity first before dreaming of days where she’d wake up in bed beside him and he would be the happiest man in the world. 

 

    “Big plans tonight?” Finn asked as he saw Poe looking through his closet, BB-8 perched on the end of Poe’s bed and watching his owner go through nearly every suit he had. “With Rey I’m guessing?” 

 

    “Yeah.” Poe sighed. “I asked her out to dinner. Leia’s taking on the script now that I finally finished it, she just wants to run it by Han for him to sign off on it. I figured we could celebrate and...well...I’d ask if maybe she wanted to go on more dates some other time.” 

 

    “Ah, so you’re asking her to be your girlfriend, aren’t you?” Finn asked with a grin. 

 

    Poe hesitated for a minute as he let it sink in, it was the first time he’d heard it outloud. The last girl he asked to be in his life a bit more like this was Natalie, but he wasn’t about to let her taint another part of his life, Natalie was done and over with, she was his past and Rey was possibly his future. 

 

    “Yeah, I am.” Poe nodded confidently. 

 

    “In that case, wear the dark blue one.” Finn pointed to the navy blue suit Poe had laid out on the bed. 

 

    “Thanks.” Poe gave a sigh of relief. 

 

* * *

  
  


_ Jenna, Margaret, Mary, Dorothy, Evelyn, Joan, Carol, Ruth, Elizabeth, Joyce, Celia. _

 

    It was a list of names stuck in Rey’s head as she got changed once she was home. She all but rushed out of the studio lot once they said it was a wrap for the day, she had to rush to get ready for her date with Poe - yet all she could think about was all the other girls he dated, used, and tossed aside. Thanks to the endless newspaper articles she found, those were just the names of the girls she found in the US that he had dated, she heard stories of his international affairs, but those were for another time, or maybe not at all.  _ Jenna, Margaret, Mary, Dorothy, Evelyn, Joan, Carol, Ruth, Elizabeth, Joyce, Celia.  _ With a sigh, Rey tossed her green and white polka dotted dress and went back into the closet to find another choice. Rey paused when she landed her hands on the dark blue halter top dress she had bought when she first came to Hollywood and hadn’t worn yet; she was saving it for a special occasion, and no matter how the date turned out, she figured it was special enough. 

 

    Rey liked Poe, she truly did, and at first she thought she could forget those other girls, but now that their names were stuck in her head, she just hoped that she didn’t end up as another name on his growing list. 

 

_ Jenna, Margaret, Mary, Dorothy, Evelyn, Joan, Carol, Ruth, Elizabeth, Joyce, Celia,  _ **_Rey_ ** _.  _

 

* * *

  
  


    Rey nearly took Poe’s breath away when he picked her up that night, she was in a navy blue dress, a light wrap around her shoulders, with her hair loosely curled and falling right to her shoulders. She had a smile plastered on her face, but something in her brown eyes told Poe that there was something off with her. 

 

    “You look beautiful.” Poe said breathlessly, opening the passenger door for Rey while she held his gaze for a moment. 

 

    “Thank you.” Rey nodded. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” 

 

    Poe leaned in and pressed a kiss to Rey’s cheek, she stood perfectly still as if she were to move an inch that she would get hurt. He had to talk to her, that much Poe knew, whatever was bothering her was something he needed to know - especially if it had anything to do with him and their relationship. 

 

    “Alright, well, I hope you’re hungry.” Poe said, staining to put a grin on his face as he shut the door gently once Rey was in the car. She smiled weakly back and gave another nod before Poe got back in the driver's seat and started up the car. 

 

    The drive was mostly silent, only filled by whatever songs came through the radio, Poe was thinking of what he might have done wrong. Was it who he was? Was it all the things he had done in the past? Was their relationship moving too fast for her? Poe needed to know, he was ready to have her be a part of his life more, and he wasn’t about to force her into anything she didn’t want. Once they pulled up outside of Maz’s, Poe helped Rey out of the car and handed the keys over to the valet outside. The restaurant was filled with the sounds of the live pianist on the other end of the place along with the mumbling of other couples enjoying their quiet meal. Poe had them seated in a private little corner of the place, a booth all to themselves and almost peaceful - peaceful enough for Poe to try and figure out what was wrong. After they ordered their drinks, Poe figured the best way to start talking about it was to just start talking about it. 

 

    “Did I do something wrong?” Poe asked as soon as the waiter left. Rey looked at him with curiosity in her eyes. 

 

    “What?” Rey asked. 

 

    “You’re acting so...distant. If you don’t want to be out here with me or if I did something wrong, you can just tell me, I can take rejection you know.” Poe said with a bit of a sigh. It was true, he could handle rejection, but the last thing he wanted was to be rejected by Rey. 

 

    “It’s...I don’t know. It’s not you, not really.” Rey sighed. 

 

    “What does that mean?” Poe asked curiously. 

 

    “I thought I’d be okay with all the girls you dated before, but I can’t stop thinking about them. I saw them all in the papers, I saw their names, I saw those love struck look in their eyes and...I’m just afraid that I’ll end up like them. It’s stupid really, I want to be with you but I’m terrified of being with you, I thought I could handle just throwing caution to the wind and handling whatever heartbreak got thrown to me but...I’m scared.” Rey explained. “I don’t want to be just another name. I want to mean something to you, not someone you use and toss aside.” 

 

    Poe was silent for a minute, taking in everything Rey had just said, and knowing she had more than every right to be afraid of going any further with him. “I understand Rey, I do. But...can I tell you something?” 

 

    “Anything.” Rey said with a slight nod. 

 

    “I brought you here tonight because I wanted to ask if it would be alright if we kept seeing each other, on a more regular basis. I wanted you to be my girlfriend. I don’t plan on using you and tossing you aside, I want you to be around as often as you can.” Poe stated. 

 

    “Really?” Rey asked, a small smile breaking out across her face. “Why?” 

 

    “Why?” Poe asked with a bit of a laugh. “Because I find myself thinking about you every moment of every day. I want to be around you as often as you’ll let me, you are easily the most fascinating person I’ve met in a long time, that’s not someone I could ever tire of.” 

 

    Everything about Rey seemed to shift; her shoulders relaxed, her smile was brighter, the familiar life Poe was used to seeing returned to her eyes, suddenly the weight of the world was off her shoulders and he had his Rey back - the one he became completely enamoured with. 

 

    “How about we enjoy the rest of our evening with some good food and a good time, alright?” Poe asked with a grin. 

 

    Rey leaned over in the booth and pressed a kiss to his cheek, wiping away her lipstick from his cheek with a smile. “Alright, sounds good to me.” 

 

* * *

  
  


    Rey kissed Poe right outside on her doorstep, not minding Poe’s hands firmly planted on her hips, or the way his tongue wandered around inside her mouth once their kiss had deepened. Maybe it was his words at dinner, or maybe it was the four glasses of wine she had at the restaurant finally catching up with her; no matter what it was, Rey just wanted to remember this part of the night, the part where he held her close and kissed her as if she was the only thing holding him to this earth. She didn’t know how long their kiss would have lasted, she had hoped it would have been forever, but as soon as shining headlights pulled up into her driveway, she knew they had to part. It could have been a number of people - Ben, Leia, or even Han, in fact she wished that it would have been one of them, but instead it was none of the above. 

 

    “Scott?” Rey asked in a bit of confusion, seeing him climb out of his car and head up to her doorstep, freezing once he noticed that they were actually standing there. 

 

    “Scott?” Poe broke apart from Rey with a questioning look. 

 

    “We work together.” Rey explained. “What are you doing at my house?” Rey asked, she knew she had never told Scott where she lived. 

 

    “You left your bag at the studio.” He called out, holding Rey’s familiar blue purse out that she knew she must have left behind while she was in a hurry to leave the studio. “I asked Leia where you lived to bring it back to you, so you wouldn’t worry about it. I stopped by earlier but no one was home so I figured I’d stop by one last time before just handing it to you tomorrow.”  

 

    Rey glanced over at Poe, she saw something funny shift in his eyes, something she had never really seen before. 

 

    “Thank you Scott.” Rey said, taking a step forward only to stop once she saw Poe marching forward towards him. “Poe.” 

 

    Poe didn’t listen, he was locked on to the person before him, and suddenly Rey’s stomach dropped. 

 

    “Poe, what are you doing?” Rey called out, walking a few paces behind him. 

 

    “Hey, Poe...haven’t seen you in a while.” Scott mumbled once Poe got close to him. 

 

    “Yeah, generally people tend to avoid each other after they’ve gotten caught in bed with their fiance.” Poe sneered, and before Rey could react or Scott could respond, Poe threw one swift punch right to Scott’s face, knocking him out cold on the ground, still holding onto Rey’s purse. 

 

    “POE!” Rey shouted. 

 

    She rushed to his side first, gently taking his hand and looking at his fist that was now turning red, he was breathing heavily and there was clearly anger still taking hold of him. Rey let go and knelt down beside Scott, checking to see if he was even still breathing despite the blood rushing from where his head hit the pavement and the split lip he now had. 

 

    “Poe, please go call someone, he’s hurt.” Rey said calmly, not wanting to agitate him any further. “Please.” 

  
    Poe seemed to snap out of it a bit more now, blinking a few times before nodding at Rey, heading towards the door, and grabbing the spare keys Rey kept hidden in her garden before going in the house and calling for help. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, I said this story was going to be a long one, with this chapter it's officially the longest Damerey fic I've written, and I'm looking forward to writing more chapters for it! This fic is one of my favorites after all ;)

_ Tell me everything _ , those were the first words out of Rey’s mouth as soon as they took their seats in the waiting room of the hospital, everything up in the air and depending on what Scott would say when he woke up. Police officers lingered in the corners of the room, ready to arrest Poe and take him away if Scott woke up and decided to press charges against Poe. So, without further hesitation, Poe proceeded to tell Rey everything without leaving a single detail out. He told her about the women, how he slept with them without much care, though he soon learned the consequences of his actions when Natalie came along. He told her how he was enchanted by her, how she pulled him deeper and deeper into this obsession over her, and then he told her about the fateful day she broke his heart, when he found her in his bed with Scott. 

 

    “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Rey gave Poe’s hand a squeeze, pulling away when she saw him wince and how red his knuckles were from punching Scott. “No one should have to go through that, but...you shouldn’t have punched Scott.” 

 

    “I know.” Poe let out a groan and took Rey’s hand back, gently rubbing small circles into the palm of her hand and leaning his head on her shoulder. “God, I’m sorry, I meant for this night to be completely different and now here we are, in a hospital waiting room.” 

 

    “It’s okay, I’m still here.” Rey reassured him, she pressed a kiss to his forehead and kept her hand in Poe’s. 

 

    They sat like that together for a while, Poe resting on Rey for the first time, him needing her in this moment more than he cared to admit, and more than glad that Rey stayed by his side and wasn’t scared off by the anger he let take control of him and knock Scott down. It must have been a few hours later, it almost hitting eleven o’clock at night, when a nurse came out and said the words Poe had been hoping to hear since they arrived. 

 

    “Mr. Ashwell is awake, and he’s already been asked, he’s not pressing charges against you. In fact, he wants to talk to the both of you.” She announced, holding the door open for both Poe and Rey to pull themselves together and go visit Scott. 

 

    The nurse led them right to his room, he was lying on the bed, and aside from looking a bit pale with a screaming bright purple bruise forming over his eye, Scott seemed mostly alright - in fact - upon their arrival in his room, he even cracked a smile. 

 

    “Poe, I honestly have to say I didn’t think seeing you again would get me here, but I expected it in a way.” Scott’s voice was groggy, and once he cast a glance over at Rey, he went serious again as he looked back to Poe. “I, uh, I knew you and Rey were a thing, I still read the papers. I wasn’t trying to intrude, we just work together and I was trying to be nice - I’ve been trying that whole ‘be a genuine nice person thing’ ever since you chased me out of the house and onto the street while in my boxers.” Scott cracked a small smile. 

 

    “Yeah, uh, well...you know. I am sorry about knocking you out though.” Poe shrugged, not knowing what to truly say. 

 

    “I deserved it, at least I know you were lying back then when you said you were going to knock me on my ass.” Scott laughed. “But I swear on my life, for whatever that means to you, that I have no intentions of ruining whatever it is between you and Rey. I’ve got a girl of my own now away from all this mess, and the last thing I’d want to do is hurt her or hurt you again, you were my friend once you know.”    
  


    “I remember.” Poe mumbled. “Thank you. Again, sorry for punching you in the face.” 

 

    “It’s fine.” Scott said. “But Rey, your purse is here actually, they brought it with me in the ambulance for some reason, it’s over there on the table.” Scott gestured and Rey saw her small sequined blue purse sitting perfectly on the table. 

 

    “Thank you.” Rey gave him a nod and a slight smile. 

 

    “I’ll call Leia in the morning, let her know what happened. I’m uh, I’m not going to tell her about this, I’ll make something up, hell, that’s half the part of being an actor right?” Scott asked with a smirk. 

 

    “You don’t have to do that.” Poe said. 

 

    “No, you’ve been dealing with her enough lately, let me take the heat for something for once.” Scott said. “You two looked like you were having a nice time before I came along, go ahead, I’ll live.” 

 

    Poe and Rey politely took their leave after saying their goodbyes, silently driving back to Rey’s house, with nothing more than a reassuring squeezing of hands between them. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Poe was exhausted, all he wanted to was curl up in bed and sleep for the next thousand years or so, today had been a longer and more draining day than he had anticipated. It was around midnight when he finally got Rey back home and walked her back up to the door, half asleep in the process, and Rey must have noticed it after she gave him a parting kiss on the cheek. 

 

    “You look exhausted Poe, you can stay the night if you want, I have a guest bedroom, you’re more than welcome to it.” Rey offered. 

 

    “I’ll be fine.” Poe yawned. 

 

    “Poe, it’s midnight, who knows who is out there driving around like a maniac right now and with you practically falling asleep while you stand, I’d feel a whole lot better if you just stayed the night.” Rey insisted now, opening up her front door and allowing Poe to enter once she was inside. 

 

    Poe hesitated, standing at the door and looking between Rey and his car. “I can’t leave Beebee-Ate alone, I thought I’d only be out for a few hours.” 

 

    “What about your assistant, Finn?” Rey asked. “Give me his number and I’ll call him, have him check on your dog.” 

 

    Once another yawn hit Poe, he knew he wouldn’t be able to drive home safely, so instead he gave her a nod and walked into the dark home, Rey turning on a few lights to guide their way into the house. She led him straight to the guest bedroom, getting him all settled, and getting Finn’s number to she could call him and ask to keep an eye on BB-8 until tomorrow when Poe would get back home. By the time Rey returned to tell Poe it was taken care of, he was already passed out in the bed in only his shirt and boxers, the blankets half thrown over him and Rey couldn’t help but give a bit of a grin. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his forehead before turning out the lights and taking her leave to her bedroom, hoping she can get a peaceful sleep. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Poe woke up late in the morning, he needed all the sleep he could get after the events of last night. It took him a moment to process that he was in a strange bed, in a strange house, and hearing strange music from outside the door. It had been a while since he woke up somewhere strange and felt like this, but once he heard Rey singing at the top of her lungs along to the music, a smile broke out across his face, he hadn’t felt this happy waking up somewhere strange in a long time. Poe pulled himself out of bed and grabbed the shirt he cast aside before he fell asleep, along with pulling his pants on and trying to appear somewhat put together despite everything. As soon as he walked out the door however, he was caught off guard by the sight of Rey. 

 

    She was enjoying the music, dancing around the kitchen and singing along, but it wasn’t so much how she acted - but rather how she looked. Rey was wearing a knee length baby blue nightgown, trimmed in white lace and tied all together with a dark blue satin bow around her waist. It was the most he’d ever seen of Rey, and while Poe knew just how beautiful she was, seeing her so carefree and in her natural habitat made her seem radiant. Realizing how rude he was being by standing there and watching her, Poe cleared his throat and almost wished he hadn’t when he saw Rey jump. 

 

    “Oh, god, I’m so sorry.” Rey said as she ran to the radio and turned it down, grabbing her matching robe along the way and wrapping it around her, trying to hide anything that anyone else would have deemed ‘indecent’ for a man to have seen unless they were married. “I get carried away in the mornings, I’m a morning person.” Her cheeks were bright pink now, showing her embarrassment for not only her singing, but how she was dressed in front of him. 

 

    “It’s okay, I overslept anyway, it’s nice to wake up to music.” Poe assured her. “And it doesn’t bother me, the whole nightgown thing, but if it’d make you more comfortable to go change, that’s fine with me.” 

 

    Rey hesitated for a moment, seeming to decide whether she should just go and change or stay the way she was; though Poe hated to admit he wanted her to stay just the way she was. Rey must have decided the same thing, pulling her robe closed a bit more and tying it shut. 

 

    “No point in changing really I suppose.” Rey shrugged. “Do you want coffee or anything? I was going to make some breakfast too if you wanted.” 

 

    “Sure, that sounds great.” Poe said with a smile and a nod. 

 

* * *

  
  


    By the time Poe returned home later that afternoon after having a pleasant breakfast with Rey, he was a bit surprised to see Leia’s car parked in his driveway, he could only imagine why she was here. More than likely for what had happened last night - punching one of her star actors in the face was generally something that didn’t go unnoticed - and something Scott more than likely couldn’t handle, no one could handle Leia when she was angry. With a loud sigh, Poe pulled himself out of the car and made the long walk up to his front door, at least relieved to hear the excited barks of his dog greeting him as soon as he walked in. 

 

    “Well, looks who’s finally decided to return, where were you last night?” Leia asked as she walked up the hallway while Poe scooped up BB-8 to calm him down. 

 

    “I...I spent the night at Rey’s, but before you try to castrate me, no, I didn’t sleep with her.” Poe clarified right away. 

 

    “I heard you two spent the night in the ER waiting for Scott Ashwell to wake up as he...how did he put it, ‘ _ fell face first into the pavement’ _ ” Leia said with a look that told Poe she didn’t believe anything Scott had told her. “His little trip is putting production behind a few days, but since House of Memories was running early, it doesn’t effect much for once, lucky for you.” 

 

    Poe didn’t say a word, she suspected that something happened between him and Scott, no one needed to tell her what actually happened. He walked into the living room and saw a note from Finn saying he stopped by and fed BB-8 last night, once he put the little pug down after his morning excitement, he returned to following Poe around as always. 

 

    “Yeah, it was a long night.” Poe grumbled, taking a seat at his long forgotten piano that hadn’t been properly played in a while. 

 

    Leia let out a long sigh before taking a seat in the chair across from the piano. “Aren’t you curious about why I’m here?” 

 

    “I figured you just told me why.” Poe explained. 

 

    “No, I came here to tell you I ran your script by a few other people and congratulations, it’s green lit, another movie under your belt.” Leia said. “And from what you wrote, I’m thinking you have a preference for who you want  _ Daisy _ to be.” 

 

    “You wanted me to meet her to be inspired, I was.” Poe stated. “It’d be good for Rey either way, two movies back to back, it’d be hard for people to ignore.” 

 

    “I know, and that’s the only reason I’m letting her do it. I never wanted Rey to get anywhere because of the people she knew, I didn’t want people to judge her on that. Putting her in this movie will make people think she got it just because she’s dating you, or as most people would assume, because she’s sleeping with you.” Leia explained. “But, it’d be foolish to put anyone else in that role, it’s good exposure for Rey, and it’d challenge her from what I read, hell, the movie might even end up with awards, and it’d be idiotic to keep Rey away from something like this.” 

 

    “Rey is an amazing actress, she doesn’t need to sleep her way to the top.” Poe stated with a bit of agitation. 

 

    “We’ll handle it.” Leia said. “But Rey will do great, that much I know.” 

 

    “When does it go into filming?” Poe asked curiously. 

 

    “Two months give or take, she’ll have some free time. If you want you can weigh in on the final decision on the others to be cast, that will be happening over these next few months. Depending on how fast we find them will determine how fast we’ll start filming.” Leia explained. “Enjoy your free time now, the studio needed a movie like this to get it back on the map for the Academy, everyone’s going to be bending over backwards to get this thing done and done right. Welcome back to the chaos.” 

  
    “Can’t wait.” Poe could feel the headache starting already, one he hadn’t felt in a few years since one of his last good scripts began to be groomed to be a winning movie. It was going to be intense, and if he somehow managed to keep both him and Rey together through all of it, it would be a miracle. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: A new chapter finally! I've been meaning to get one done for this story for a while. There's some more progress in Poe and Rey's relationship, along with a minor speed bump that may or may not help their relationship later one down the road...

    To say that Poe was stressed was an understatement, with each day that passed, a new stressor popped up for the upcoming production. He went back to drinking very heavily, Rey would always pick him up from the bar and if she got worried about just how drunk he got, which would usually result in her bringing him back to her house. Poe behaved for the most part, mostly just passed out on her sofa without much fuss, but there were some nights much like tonight, where he was a bit handsy. 

 

    “Come on Poe, you need sleep.” Rey said as she wrapped a blanket around Poe while he was sitting up on the sofa, completely drunk. 

 

    “I’m not tired.” He said with a grin, resting his hands on Rey’s hips and bringing her down into his lap. 

 

    “No, but you’re incredibly drunk, you need to sleep it off and drink water.” Rey sighed as she reached over to grab some water, being greeted with Poe pressing kisses to her exposed neck as she did so. 

 

    “I’m fine.” Poe mumbled into her skin, the vibrations feeling a bit better than Rey cared to admit. “I’ve been worse.” 

 

    “And I believe that, but I’d rather you didn’t wake up incredibly hungover tomorrow.” Rey sighed and gently pushed him back, he was wearing a smirk on his face still as he took the glass of water from Rey and drank some of it to make her happy. “Thank you.” She said as she took the glass from him and placed it back on the table, his lips on hers as soon as she faced him again. “Poe.” She mumbled though she didn’t pull away. 

 

    “Can I help you with something, Miss Skywalker?” Poe asked with a grin as he pulled away, knowing that he’d just sparked her interest and cut her off. 

 

    “You’re insufferable sometimes.” Rey groaned.

 

    This time she was the one to capture his lips with a slight laugh, taking nearly every angle she could to deepen the kiss before Poe relented and gave her exactly what she wanted. She liked kissing Poe, she wouldn’t deny that, and there were some times when it was hard to keep her hands off of him, but she behaved. Yet, while Rey didn’t have a drink at all tonight to keep an eye on Poe, and she knew he was his drunk and handsy self, she was far more into the kiss then she had anticipated. His hands slid up until they reached where her blouse tucked into her skirt, he was gently tugging on them, and while Rey had never gone that far with Poe, she couldn’t help but be tempted into it in that moment. She pulled her blouse out and guided his hands up to undo a few buttons, and he took his time, almost painfully, while Rey waited for his hands to finally rest on her skin. Once his hands were on her, she couldn’t help but let out a small moan, and Poe pulled her in closer until her chest was just about against him. His lips left hers and went to kiss the new exposed areas, down her neck and chest, stopping just as he reached her breasts and kissing his way back up again. Rey was caught off guard when his lips left her skin, as well as his hands, and he started buttoning up her shirt again, though the buttons weren’t lined up right thanks to the drinks in his system. 

 

    “What are you doing?” Rey questioned, she was lost in the kisses and wondered why he stopped just as things were getting good. 

 

    “You’re right, I’m terribly drunk, and while I  _ love _ exactly where all of this was heading, I don’t want it to be lost in a hungover haze.” Poe sighed. “I want to remember things like this with you.” 

 

    “You’ll have to stop drinking so much for that to happen.” Rey pointed out, helping to finish the rest of the buttons even though they were uneven. 

 

    “I know, there’s just so much stress going around right now.” Poe groaned. 

 

    “How about instead of drinking yourself into oblivion, we work out something that will be stress relief for both of us?” She asked with a mischievous grin and pressed a light kiss to his cheek. 

 

    “If that’s what you want.” Poe smiled in return. “I can still have a drink if I get really stressed though, right?” 

 

    “Yes, you can.” Rey couldn’t help but giggle a bit as she climbed out of his lap and pulled the blanket back up around him. “Get some sleep.” 

 

    “I will.” Poe reached for the glass of water and drank the rest of it, knowing already that his hangover would be painful, but at least staying hydrated would make it slightly less painful. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Poe knew something odd was going on when he collected the paper outside of Rey’s doorstep the following morning and saw paparazzi crowding around her house, already taking pictures of him before he could turn around and walk away. He knew they would get worse with her movie coming out, and while he didn’t care if they spotted him out with her like any other couple in the world, them seeing him at her house would always implicate something. 

 

    “They’re getting pretty wild out there already, huh?” Poe asked curiously as he walked into the kitchen, grabbing his cup of coffee and sitting at the table with Rey. She offered to make him breakfast but thanks to all the alcohol he still had in his system, the only thing he really wanted and could stomach was coffee. 

 

    “What do you mean?” Rey asked curiously. 

 

    “The paparazzi.” Poe clarified. 

 

    “They haven’t been that bad since they found out we were dating, are they out there right now?” Rey questioned. 

 

    “A whole bunch of them.” Poe stated. While he hadn’t faced the paparazzi like that since he was dating Natalie, he was used to their presence, they were more of a nuisance than anything else. “They did just announce the movie and everything yesterday, that’s probably why they’re here.” Poe shrugged. 

 

    Rey grabbed the paper and started flipping through it until she froze a few pages in, her face going pale and looking as if she was about to cry. “ _ Fuck _ .” She hissed. 

 

    “What is it?” Poe asked as he got up from his seat, walking behind her and seeing just what had her so upset. 

 

    It was a picture of them from last night, something he never thought would have even gotten published in the papers, but since the angle of the photo didn’t show any of Rey’s skin, just where Poe was kissing her, it managed to skate by and become headlining news. The movie was announced just yesterday, and they were already branding her, saying she slept her way into the role just as all the other girls before her had. Rey practically balled up the paper as she threw it down, marching towards the front door with tears streaking down her cheeks though a look of anger was in her eyes. 

 

    “Rey!” Poe called out and ran to catch her, stopping her just before the front door by blocking her. “Don’t do it, don’t give them the satisfaction.” 

 

    “They can’t do that! They can’t take pictures like that and plaster them all over the world and call me a whore!” Rey yelled, even more tears falling as her strength faltered into sadness, burying her face in Poe’s chest. 

 

    “Don’t let them get to you.” Poe mumbled into her hair as he comforted her. “I’m going to go shut the blinds and we’ll just stay in today alright? I’ll call Leia and handle everything, they won’t get to see a glimpse of you today, I promise.” 

 

    “Okay.” Rey sniffled and nodded, pulling herself away from Poe as he went to go shut all the blinds. Once that was done she sat down on the sofa in the living room, no longer having the desire to finish eating her breakfast and leaning on Poe’s shoulder as he sat beside her. “Nothing will change that, will it? They’ll think I’m just some whore who slept with you to get to where I am for the rest of my life, won’t they?” 

 

    “They won’t, I won’t let them, I’ll figure it out. I got you into this mess, I’ll get you out. I shouldn’t have done what I did last night.” Poe said. 

 

    “No, I’m glad we did that, I’m glad we kissed like that, I liked it. I’m not ashamed of liking you, I just always wanted people to think of me as something more than just another ditzy girl. But if having feelings for you means they brand me like that then I don’t care, they can say what they want, I’ll still have feelings for you no matter what.” Rey promised. 

 

    “I’m not going to let them call you just another ditzy girl who slept her way to the top, you are not that girl, you’re so much more than that label. I’m going to fix it.” Poe said and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. 

 

* * *

  
  


    By the very next day, Poe had an idea, and thanks to some gut instinct he must have had while he was with Natalie, he still had just the thing to carry out this plan. He showed up at Rey’s house, trying to drive his car through the paparazzi that were still lingering outside of her house, waiting for a glimpse after such scandalous pictures. He still had to run the plan by Rey, but he knew he had to give these people something before they tried something to get Rey out of the house. If Rey didn’t agree, it’d be difficult to talk himself out of this one, but he had to do something. 

 

    “Could you all please leave my fiancee alone?” Poe huffed as he got out of his car and made his way to the door while their cameras flashed and the statement got them all riled up about Rey being his fiance. 

 

    Once Poe got inside of Rey’s house, he felt relieved to be away from their prying eyes, but a new kind of nervousness set in on him, he still had to run the plan by Rey. And there she was, just as beautiful as ever in a baby blue dress, sitting perfectly perched on her sofa, curled up by the window and reading a book - trying to forget all of the chaos just outside her door. 

 

    “Is it still bad out there?” Rey asked tentatively as she closed her book and set it aside. 

 

    “Yeah, pretty bad.” Poe sighed. “I came up with an idea though, and I may have just set it into motion out there, so I’m really hoping you agree with it.” 

 

    “I’m up for any ideas at this point.” Rey said as she patted the seat beside her, inviting Poe to sit down. 

 

    “We get engaged.” Poe stated as soon as he took his seat beside her. “Not a real engagement, like...we don’t have to do the things real engaged couples do, I don’t want to force you into that. But if you just wear this and say we’re going to get married, people can’t keep calling you all those names.” Poe offered as he took his mother's wedding ring out of his pocket. It was her prized possession until the day she died, the only extravagant thing his father could ever get for her. Poe hid it from Natalie, buying her some diamond that didn’t mean much to him other than the price tag, it was something bold and striking that she liked; but his mother's ring was simple and stunning, something Natalie would have surely taken for granted and hated because it wasn’t gaudy enough for her. 

 

    “So...we just say we’re getting married and keep dating?” Rey asked curiously. 

 

    “That’s the idea.” Poe shrugged. “I figured if we say we were already engaged and just kept it secret until these pictures came out, it would be believable. They can murmur under their breath about whatever they want, but I’ll be damned if they call my future wife a whore anymore.” 

 

    Poe didn’t want to admit that he kinda liked the sound of calling Rey his future wife, they’d only been officially dating for two months now, it was all so fast, but he wasn’t going to drag Rey’s name through the mud. 

 

    “Okay.” Rey nodded as a small smile formed on her lips. “I’d be happy to be your fiance, Mr. Dameron.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek before Poe put  the ring that fit perfectly on her finger, and couldn’t help but think of just how right it looked there on her hand. “What do we do now?” 

 

    “Well, how do you feel about moving into my place? There’s an extra bedroom and it’s a giant house, half the rooms are empty so you can put whatever you want in them. Plus, I’m sure Beebee-Ate wouldn’t mind having you around, he seems to like you a lot.” Poe grinned. 

 

    “Okay.” Rey nodded. “I can start packing tomorrow.” 

 

    “I’ll help, what kind of fiance would I be if I didn’t help you move in?” Poe asked and gave a slight laugh. 

 

    “Thank you.” Rey smiled in return and kissed him on the cheek. “So, what do we do right now?” 

 

    “We could go out to dinner and celebrate, we did just get engaged after all.” Poe laughed. 

 

    “I’d love to.” Rey giggled. 

 

    “After you, Mrs. Dameron.” Poe joked as he rose to his feet and held out his hand to Rey. 

  
    “Why thank you, Mr. Dameron.” Rey smiled. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: With every bit of happiness there is bound to be something that will throw a wrench in the works, and there are more speed bumps to come in the next chapter! But this chapter I promise is more of a calm chapter, everyone settling in after the events of the last chapter :P

    “Let me just, I need a minute to process all of this.” Leia sighed, her head resting in her hands with yesterday's paper and today's splashed out in front of her, one headlining the pictures that leaked, the other headlining Poe and Rey’s “secret” engagement. 

 

    Poe and Rey wanted to tell Leia before she freaked out, but as it turned out, they couldn’t beat the papers and she called up Poe, cursing him out, before calling up Rey to ask her why she went through with something like this when she’s still so young. When they showed up at the Solo’s home, Poe knew if he hadn’t shown up with Rey on his arm that Ben and Han would have had more than a few choice words for him when they answered the door, staring him down and more than likely wishing he’d drop dead. It took more than a few calming words and an hour of explanation, but it finally seemed to be sinking in on the entire family that the engagement wasn’t real, it was something Poe had done to keep Rey’s reputation in tact, she wasn’t actually bound to marry him and perhaps she’d never choose that, but in the meantime, Poe wanted her to be protected from the harsher side of Hollywood. 

 

    “So...you two aren’t actually getting married?” Han asked, glaring back and forth between the two. 

 

    “No, we’re not.” Rey reassured her Uncle. “I care about Poe, I really do, but we’re not actually planning on getting married right now.” 

 

    “Huh.” Han mumbled and nodded his head, still trying to process everything like Leia was. 

 

    “Rey, go call your father and tell him about this before it reaches news over there. The last thing I need today is Luke going through a breakdown over his daughter only being here for a few months and ending up engaged.” Leia stated. 

 

    Rey nodded, gave a quick kiss to Poe on the cheek which surely didn’t help ease the tension in the room, and walked off into one of the offices upstairs to go call her father. Once she was completely gone, Leia seemed to have everything together and looked directly at Poe. 

 

    “Well...you two shut the press up for now, you’ve got more than a few reporters running around trying to retract everything they said the day before about Rey.” Leia said. “But you’re going to have to deal with everyone that comes onto this project, everyone who will say Rey got the role because she’s marrying you.” 

 

    “I can handle a few people who are bitter, but I’m not going to stand by and let the world drag Rey through the mud. She’s young, it was just one time and just a dumb mistake.” Poe sighed. 

 

    “And let’s try to keep it to the one dumb mistake. Now you two have to convince the entire world that you’re engaged and very deeply in love, and if you two aren’t actually planning on going through with this, you need to keep your damn hands to yourself when it comes to what these pictures over here lead too. Rey’s young, and I’d rather she didn’t add pregnant on top of that.” Leia stated. 

 

    “I know.” Poe nodded. “I...I really do love her, and after all I’ve done in the past every single one of you have the right to not believe me. But I love Rey, and if she doesn’t want any of this once everything has calmed down then I can respect that, I care about you.” 

 

    “No.” Ben blurted out, causing Han and Leia’s confused expression to land on him. “Hell no, no, I’m not going to let you charm my cousin into marrying you. She’s  _ twenty _ , she’s got her whole damn life ahead of her and I’m not going to watch her throw it all away to be your pretty little trophy that you’ll get tired of and break her heart worse than all the other girls you’ve tossed aside!” Ben’s voice had escalated and Poe could read the anger on his face. “What if you do get married and she gets pregnant? What if you get tired of her after she has kids? You’re just going to toss her aside to rot because that’s what you do, that’s what you’ve always done.” 

 

    Poe couldn’t lie and say he didn’t feel some anger building up, but he knew Ben had every right to that anger. Ben had started dating Celia, the last girl he dated before Natalie came along, and perhaps one of the girls he hurt the most. After Ben started dating her, their friendship fell out and Ben was always so full of anger whenever he was around, dating Rey only made it worse, because he saw first hand exactly what he used to do to girls like Rey. 

 

    “Ben, that’s enough.” Han snapped. 

 

    “He’s just-” 

 

    “ _ Ben _ .” Leia hissed now. 

 

    “No, it’s alright.” Poe said. “He has a right to be pissed off. Nothing I say will prove to him that I mean what I’m saying.” 

 

    Ben was silent and stared him down, letting out a disgruntled sigh before leaning back in his seat on the sofa again. 

 

    “Let’s just put this on a shelf for now, we have bigger things to worry about, like finding Rey a leading man for the movie and getting everyone else cast, meeting producers, getting sets made, finding a goddamn director.” Leia grumbled. “We don’t really have the time to be fighting about this, let’s just move on and focus on the bigger headache at hand.” 

 

    “Ben could direct it.” Poe offered. “I’ve seen the other stuff he’s done lately, he’s damn good at it, just like Han.” 

 

    Leia and Han looked over at Ben, waiting for his reaction. 

 

    “It’d certainly take one worry off my mind.” Leia said. 

 

    “I’ll read the script and get back to you on that.” Ben gave in with a sigh, part of him wanted to rebel and have nothing to do with Poe’s story, but the other knew that it was going to be a good one, and films like this didn’t often get handed to young and budding directors like him. 

 

    “That just leaves the leading man and a few other obstacles.” Leia pointed out. 

 

    “I’ve got someone in mind for that too.” Poe stated. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Over the next few days as everything settled, things seemed to fall into place with the movie, everything was getting set to start in two months, and thanks to the generosity of one of the new producers Leia found who went by the name of Nicholas Richards, it might even head into production sooner. Ben agreed to being the director, and with Poe’s promise of not knocking Scott’s lights out again, Scott signed on to be the leading man. And while things with the movie began to settle, Rey wanted her and Poe to enjoy their month off together before business would kick in again, and with their current predicament, today was moving day for Rey, the last bit of work before relaxation. 

 

    Everything of Rey’s was finally in the house and Poe was helping her unpack, BB-8 following them around the entire house wherever they went in the excitement of it all.  It finally came down to just helping Rey settle into one of the spare bedrooms in the house, Rey was hanging her clothes up in the closet while Poe was trying to help by getting the sheets on her bed, digging through the boxes trying to find them. 

 

    “How many boxes do you even have.” Poe asked with a slight laugh as he opened up another in attempt to find her bedsheets. 

 

    “I know, it’s a lot, sorry.” Rey laughed in return, though keeping herself occupied with all the open boxes surrounding her and trying to hang things up neatly. 

 

    As soon as Poe opened up the box, he considered setting it aside given what was in it - Rey’s nightgowns and underwear, most things being either lace or sheer and far beyond Poe’s imagination of things that Rey would wear. 

 

    “I, uh, this is yours.” Was all Poe managed to string together to say as he brought the box over to her, his cheeks slightly pink. 

 

    Rey looked down and went bright red once she saw what box Poe had opened. 

 

    “Oh, god, I’m sorry.” Rey mumbled, her cheeks flushing bright red. “That, uh, that’s...sorry.” She moved the box in front of her and hoped to tuck it away into the closet. 

 

    “No, it’s fine.” Poe tried to brush it off, though he knew his imagination would be running wild with thoughts of Rey in  _ any _ of the pieces he found in that box. “It’s your stuff, nothing to be sorry about.” 

 

     “It was um, it was supposed to be a surprise.” Rey mumbled, facing the closet again holding one of her dresses in her hands, trying to mask how bright red her face was at the moment. 

 

    “A surprise?” Poe questioned. 

 

    “To...continue our time together a few nights ago.” Rey was still so afraid to really speak, and if Poe hadn’t been as close to her as he was, he wouldn’t have heard a thing. 

 

    “Rey, we don’t have to do any of that. Fake engagement or not, I don’t want you to do something you don’t-” 

 

    “I do.” Rey blurted out as she faced him again. “I do...want to be with you like that. It’s my choice and whether we were actually engaged or not, I still choose to be with you in that intimate way.” 

 

    Before Poe said anything else, Rey put her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss, giving it everything she had before Poe gently broke the kiss and pulled himself away from her a bit breathless. 

 

    “Rey, I’d love nothing more than that, but how about we just let it happen naturally. Not in a drunken induced haze, not some random choice, just...when it happens, it’ll happen.” Poe suggested. 

 

    “I was planning on that actually.” Rey admitted with a sheepish grin. “Just letting it happen.” 

 

    “Oh, okay, good, we’re on the same page then.” Poe said, feeling his cheeks get a bit hot as some embarrassment washed over him, though all of it dissipated when Rey kissed him on the cheek. “I just don’t want you to regret anything.” 

 

    “You know, you’re much sweeter than everyone gives you credit for.” Rey smiled as Poe wrapped his hands around her waist and held her close. 

 

    “Only for you.” Poe mumbled into her hair, a smile on his face as he pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. 

  
    Rey had certainly gotten under his skin, he hadn’t harbored feelings like this in a long time, and it was all happening far more quickly than it had the time before, which both gave him a thrill and terrified him. He was falling in love with Rey, he could feel it with each passing day, and the fact of that she wanted to be with him in any way at all made him wish their engagement was true instead of just something they say to keep the press at bay. There was still time though, there wasn’t a limit on how long they could be together, and Poe had all the time in the world to truly win Rey over and possibly marry her one day; that was, as long as trouble decided to die down instead of try and tear them apart as it always seemed to. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The first half of this chapter is kinda smutty, just wanted to get that out there :P Like most chapters that I write that involves this stuff, it took me forever to actually finish. But there's more than just smut in this chapter, there's actual stuff that moves the story along too, so I hope you guys enjoy it!

    It was the first day they were heading into filming, it was going to be a bright and early morning and a long day at work that Poe was dreading. He remembered the long days and nights he’d spend on sets, losing sleep over rewrites and hoping that everything went smoothly, but Rey seemed to have an optimistic and different point of view on things. He could hear Rey giggling as she tiptoed into his room, unable to really contain herself, and she slipped right into his bed before he could register fully what she was doing. Rey climbed on top of him, straddling him and planting gentle kisses on his neck, nipping at certain places she learned he loved over their month of living together. 

 

    “Morning.” Poe mumbled as he slowly woke up, the lack of light streaming in through the blinds telling him that it was still very early in the morning. 

 

    He rested his hands on her hips and felt the silky material of Rey’s nightgown under his grasp, it was a bit too dark to see exactly what she was wearing, but Rey had been adventurous the past few days and donned a few different numbers that Poe wouldn’t forget anytime soon. 

 

    “Morning.” Rey answered cheerfully, pulling away from his neck with a grin on her face and her shifts of movement in his lap were soon going to make things very difficult. “Coffee’s ready.” 

 

    “Well, let’s go get some then.” Poe grinned and tried to lift Rey off of him before things got awkward, they were getting closer in a few intimate ways, but Poe was more than sure that Rey wasn’t for all of that just yet. 

 

    Rey gently pushed his hands off her hips and leaned in with a smile, nipping at his neck again and enjoying the moans she got out of him. 

 

    “You know, coffee sounds really good right about now.” Poe managed to say, his hands inching back up but instead of ending up on top of her nightgown, they slipped right under and sat on her bare skin, only egging Rey on a bit more feverishly in her kisses, and  _ good god _ she was wearing lace underwear under that nightgown that Poe would never be able to pry out of his imagination now. “Maybe we should go get some, right now.” 

 

    “No, I’m good.” Rey mumbled against his skin in-between kisses. 

 

    And all it took was Rey to shift herself on top of him one more time and Poe grabbed Rey and flipped them over, leaving him on top and keeping her at a distance from the uncomfortable hardness now in his pants. Rey looked annoyed now, almost like she was pouting that she hadn’t gotten her way and Poe couldn’t help but laugh a bit, pressing a kiss underneath her jaw. 

 

    “Come on, let’s go get coffee.” Poe said and climbed off of her, Rey lying in the bed and crossing her arms over her chest. “Rey, come on.” He leaned over and pressed a few more kisses to her though her expression never changed. “Are you actually pouting?” He asked with a bit of an amused smirk. 

 

    “Maybe.” Rey mumbled. 

 

    “I hate to break it to you but you’re adorable when you pout.” Poe said. 

 

    “I don’t want to be adorable.” Rey groaned. 

 

    Over the past week, Rey had been especially persistent in the matter of wanting to sleep with Poe, she was on a mission almost, and Poe just never felt like she was actually ready for what sleeping with someone for the first time entailed. And while the rest of him very desperately wanted to just pin her down and give her exactly what she wanted, he didn’t want to rush into things with Rey, he didn’t want to screw this up. 

 

    “Rey.” Poe sighed. “You know I love you.” 

 

    “I know.” Rey grumbled in protest and rolled over on her side now, her nightgown slipping up just a bit and only exposing more of her bare legs. “I just thought we’d do something by now.” 

 

    Poe laid back down beside her and gently ran his hand up her leg, all the way to where the edge of her nightgown left off and rested his hand there. 

 

    “I know, I know.” Rey sighed, knowing his answer before he even said what she knew. “Let’s go get coffee.” 

 

    Rey sat up in bed and started to climb off, but something in Poe caved and he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back to bed and laying her down beside him, climbing on top of her. For a minute Rey looked incredibly confused, but then a smile spread out on her face and she leaned up and kissed him a few times before Poe took over. He kissed down her neck and her chest until he reached the lace border of the nightgown and made his way back up her kissing, letting her wrap her legs around his waist in the process. After a few minutes he parted from her neck and moved himself down, her legs falling away from his waist but still staying around him, he inched down further and further until he saw Rey’s breathing hitch for a moment. 

 

    “It’s not...I just wanted to do something more for you...to get you used to it for when we actually do...if you trust me.” Poe was trying to find the right words to keep her from getting scared or nervous about where he was venturing. 

 

    Rey was silent, chewing on her bottom lip before she gave a nod. “Yeah, I trust you.” She finally managed to say. 

 

    Poe slid her nightgown up further and further until it was halfway up her body, and he went ahead and started slowly kissing down her abdomen, nipping a bit at each one of her hips, before pressing a few soft kisses right at the waistband of her underwear. He pulled away and started kissing down the inside of her thigh, taking his time and stopping right as he reached her underwear again, moving over to the other thigh and repeating the action. He glanced up at her now, and before he could ask for her approval, she nodded and thrusted up a bit giving him permission to do what he wanted. Poe slid his hands under the waistband of her underwear and slowly pulled them down her legs, kissing her thighs once they were out of the way before pressing kisses back to where the waistband of her underwear had been. He kissed down further and further until he kissed right at her entrance and she started to squirm a bit under him. Poe spread her legs open a bit wider and licked right over her clit, Rey giving an immediate reaction by gasping and sitting up in bed, resting on her elbows and trying to see what exactly he was doing to her. 

 

    “You okay?” Poe asked nervously, pulling away from between her thighs and searching for any hint of doubt on her face that would tell him to stop. 

 

    “Yeah, it was just...surprising, in a good way.” Rey admitted as her cheeks started turning a bit pink while she laid back down and hoped he would go back to what he was doing. 

 

    When Rey relaxed, Poe continued on his mission and took his time with his tongue, making Rey moan with nearly every movement he made. Once her breathing picked up and she started thrusting her hips to beg for more, Poe pulled away for a moment to slowly slide one of his fingers inside of her, giving Rey a chance to adjust to the new feeling. She gasped and moaned and stilled a bit at first before she started moving around, waiting for him to make a move. He finally settled into a rhythm and just when Rey seemed adjusted to it, he slid another finger in and started the process all over again while he pressed kisses to her body, letting her deal with one experience at a time instead of overwhelming her. It only took a few more minutes as he expected, and then Rey came undone with a series of moans and groans and mumbling out his name while she grabbed at his curls until she was done. 

 

    Once Rey was done, Poe pulled his fingers out of her and licked them clean before placing a few last minute kisses on her abdomen and pulling her nightgown back down around her. She was red and some of the hair around her face was clinging to her from sweat, but she was smiling, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. 

 

    “That was nice.” Rey giggled against his lips. 

 

    “Glad you liked it.” Poe smiled and pressed a few kisses against her cheek now before lying down beside her and pulling her into his arms. 

 

    “So...is that what it’s like?” Rey asked curiously, a little nervous even. 

 

    “Sort of.” Poe said. “We don’t have to start that just because we did that, we can just keep doing that for as long as you like.” 

 

    “But what about you?” Rey asked. 

 

    “I can take care of that.” Poe pressed a kiss to her forehead. “We should probably get in the shower though, we’re going to be late.” 

 

    “So now you’ll finally join me in there?” Rey asked with a grin. 

 

    “Well, it’ll save time and everything, you know.” Poe said with a smirk and a wink and Rey couldn’t help but laugh in return. 

 

    “We better get going then, don’t wanna be late on the first day.” Rey grinned and got up out of bed quicker than Poe expected and started tugging him by the arm towards the shower. “Maybe I can help?” 

 

    “Rey-” 

 

    “Too bad, I’m going to, now come on, shower time.” Rey stated and got him up off the bed and led him straight to the bathroom. 

 

* * *

  
  


    It was a week into filming already, everything going by so quickly and Poe was impressed they were getting as much done as they had. He worked long days that went well into the night, often getting home long after Rey and the other actors have been let go for the night while everyone else stayed and worked out the next shoots for the day. Poe was one of the last people there for the night, and needless to say he was surprised by the sound of someone in high heels entering his office. 

 

    “Working late as always.” An all too familiar voice sighed. 

 

    There, leaning in the doorway to his office, was no one other than Natalie Ryan. 

 

    “What the hell are you doing here?” Poe asked, he was way too tired to be dealing with her and however she managed to find him. 

 

    “Oh, taking a stroll down memory lane, and of course checking on the sets, I paid for most of those things after all and I have to say I’m impressed. In the concept drawings they looked just dreadful but in person they’re stunning, I bet they look amazing on film.” She shrugged. 

 

    “What are you talking about?” Poe asked confused. 

 

    “Right, sorry, I forgot only the studio knows. I’m listed as Nicholas Richards for the project. People always get nervous when they see a woman’s name attached to something other than looking pretty, so I threw out a man’s name and invested money in this. You were always talented, but lacking in some other areas.” Natalie sighed. “How’s the young little fiance doing? Picking out her dress and flowers I imagine, probably on cloud nine knowing she gets to marry you. Or, well, if you keep working late like this she might just go and do what I did and keep herself entertained at night with company.” 

 

    “Rey’s not like you, she wouldn’t cheat.” Poe stated. 

 

    “Huh, and yet you seem to have let the very man that betrayed you be the leading man. I personally would have chosen someone else, maybe let her shine a bit more but I suppose it’s easier to trust the devil you know.” Natalie said. “When’s the wedding then?” 

 

    “That’s not really your business.” Poe grumbled. 

 

    “ _ Actually _ , it is.” Natalie said. “Tell me, when’s the last time you remember this studio doing exceptional on a movie?” 

 

    Poe tried to think back, when he couldn’t get an answer, he had a feeling that Natalie was actually going somewhere important with this conversation. 

 

    “Exactly. This studio has been just barely paying the bills, you get a glance at stuff like that when you offer to pay for the better part of a production. This movie is it’s last real shot at saving itself. This studio goes down, everyone who’s tied to it has to go grovel to some other studio, and I really hate groveling.” Natalie sighed. “This movie is all this place has.” 

 

    “What does that have to do with Rey and I getting married? And why wouldn’t Leia tell us all of this?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Leia is full of pride, she wouldn’t ask for help, when I came along and offered up a different name she told me what was happening, and I rather like my job here. Secondly, if you and Rey get married at the right time, around when the movie is set to come out, it will spark an interest in the film, something it will desperately need. I know you see me as just some villain, and you can keep seeing me that way if it’ll make you feel better, but I’m trying to to something decent for once, and I need you to marry that young little thing this October because if you think I’m a bitch now, wait until you see me when I lose money.” Natalie grumbled. 

 

    Poe would ask Leia before he trusted anything that came out of Natalie’s mouth, but if she was right, then she would be right about trying to spark interest in the movie too. And if there was one thing that Natalie was always completely truthful and straightforward about while they were together, it was about money. 

 

    “I’d start making those wedding plans a bit more concrete, and autumn weddings are beautiful.” Natalie sighed. 

 

    “Why do you care?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Like I said darling, money. And this story is the best one of yours I’ve read so far, so it has a decent shot, as long as you get the people interested in it.” Natalie said. “I could care less where you have the wedding or any other details of it, it’s your romantic little gesture for the little thing, just get married, spark and interest, and for the love of god, don’t get the girl pregnant during shooting, if you do, make sure it’s in the last month, it can be covered up easily.” 

 

    Before Poe could protest any further, Natalie walked out of the office and left Poe with an uneasy feeling. He was still going to talk to Leia tomorrow morning, but if it was true, he would have to tell Rey, and that just might make her run for the hills. Poe sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, Natalie always managed to have a way to ruin everything that was going good in his life whenever she showed up. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Poe got home at midnight, he was drained, and Natalie’s words were still haunting him - even after all this time she managed to do that to him. But Rey’s bright and cheerful smile made things just a bit easier when he saw her curled up on the sofa, waiting for him to come home. 

 

    “Hey.” Rey yawned and got up off the sofa. She had gotten more comfortable wearing her silk nightgowns around him, though she had thrown a matching robe over herself while she waited. She walked up to him and greeted him with a kiss right away, something else that had changed since they’d started sharing the same bed, Rey spending less and less time in her own room. “How was your night?” 

 

    “Stressful, I don’t wanna talk about it right now, I just want to go to bed. I’ll tell you in the morning though.” Poe assured her and gave her a peck on the cheek. 

 

    “Alright, can’t say I blame you there, I’m exhausted.” Rey said and let out another yawn, Poe laughing and giving her another kiss on the cheek. 

 

    “You’re adorable.” He laughed. 

 

    “Are you ever going to stop calling me adorable?” Rey asked. 

 

    “Well, to be fair, there are certain times I don’t call you adorable anymore.” Poe grinned. He had allowed himself to be a bit more bold around Rey, and she never seemed to mind, even when she was half asleep like she was right now, she would reciprocate. 

 

    “And I appreciate that, so how about we put that tongue to better use than just calling me adorable.” Rey whispered in his ear and pulled away with a broad grin, she’d been practicing her flirting a bit, and god sometimes Poe wished she hadn’t been such a fast learned. 

  
    “That’s a good idea.” Poe grinned and kissed her again before scooping her up and bringing her to bed. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Uh, well I went on a bit of a smutty streak for a couple of days there last week, and this was one of the last chapters to come out of that streak :P It's surprisingly fluffy and sweet compared to how I thought the chapter was originally going to go, I hope you guys enjoy ;)

    Poe didn’t want to believe Natalie, she always told lies, she lied when they were together and lied to him when they were apart; it was almost as if lying was a part of her personality. Which led to Poe being in complete disbelief when he confronted Leia the next morning while the scenes were still being set for the day and Rey was back in makeup, that Natalie had been right about everything - from being a part of the production to the company being in hot water. He didn’t tell Leia about what Natalie had suggested, he’d never want to put Rey through something like that, but hearing for himself from the source how things were, Natalie’s idea started to make sense. 

 

    This movie was one of their last chances, and no one except for Han, Leia, and the producers on the movie knew that, which was why everyone was giving it their all and working day and night no matter what. Poe wanted to tell Rey, she was the only person in the world that he had to talk to about any of this, not even his assistant and now friend Finn could know about this, it was only Rey, and he swore to Leia that he wouldn’t speak a word of it to Ben and Rey who were already stressed with making the movie itself, much less it’s success. Poe wanted to believe that the movie would spark enough interest on its own, but he’d never been fully confident in whatever he wrote, no matter the awards, but he wasn’t about to ask Rey to marry him; he loved her, and things were going good between them despite the fake engagement, but if he ever married her he wanted the proposal to be real and the marriage to have heart in it, not something done for the sake of the cameras. 

 

    “Hey, you okay?” Ben caught Poe off guard while he was deep in his thoughts, sitting back and watching everyone go over their lines one more time before actually shooting. 

 

    “Yeah, I’m fine, just tired.” Poe tried to dismiss his thoughts. 

 

    “I’d imagine you are, I’ve had people telling me you stay here until midnight sometimes writing.” Ben gave a slight laugh and sat one of the coffees he had in his hands down beside Poe. “It’s not much coffee but it helps.” 

 

    “Thanks.” Poe mumbled. “Wait, have you been having people watch me?” Poe asked curiously, Ben seemed cheerful, so whoever he had watching him must not have seen in run in with Natalie. 

 

    “Just keeping an eye on things.” Ben sighed. “What kind of family would I be to Rey if I didn’t make sure the guy she was uh, engaged to, was alright.” 

 

    “Good to know.” Poe groaned. “I’m just stressed like everybody else here.” 

 

    “I know.” Ben nodded. “Maybe you should just go home early tonight, no re-writes need to be done today, just go home with Rey and relax. I think we can carry on tonight without you working yourself down to the bone. We’re just shooting that late night lake scene with Scott tonight, the both of you could use sleep, Rey looks exhausted too, she’d probably waiting up for you to get home I imagine.” 

 

    Poe hated to admit it, but that’s exactly what Rey was doing, among other things they did now when Poe came home and they felt a bit frisky. 

 

    “Yeah, yeah I’ll go home early tonight. Just call me later if you guys need anything.” Poe yawned. 

 

    “Will do.” Ben gave a slight nod and walked off; it was almost strange to Poe for things to be so civil between him and Ben, bu they were doing their best to be professional, not only for the sake of the movie, but for Rey as well who had made it very clear that she wanted to stay with him - out of all the people in the world, she still chose him, the one bastard on the planet that probably didn’t deserve her. 

 

* * *

  
  


         Poe went home early with Rey as he had promised, he even took her out to dinner and hoped that he could let his mind be distracted for a few hours, but as soon as they returned home, the stress sank in again. Rey could read him like a book, a talent she had picked up on over their time together, and she could tell just how stressed he was from the drinks he was downing and the tenseness in his shoulders. She turned on the radio and sat down beside him on the piano bench, leaning against his shoulder and listening to him aimlessly play random keys. 

 

    “You’re stressed.” Rey mumbled, reaching out and lacing her fingers between his over the ivory keys and bringing his hand up to her lips for a quick kiss, her rubbing the faint pink stain away that was left behind from her lipstick. 

 

    “I’m always stressed anymore.” Poe said, taking ahold of Rey’s hand and studying the ring he gave her that she still wore everyday, she never forgot it for a single moment and wore it on a necklace while she was shooting, it made Poe regret proposing to her the way he had, Rey deserved the grandest of romantic gestures, not just something he quickly cooked up in his brain to save her reputation that he almost ruined. 

 

    “I know, it’s not good for you.” Rey said. “Do you want to tell me what’s bugging you?” 

 

    She always asked, every single night she always asked why he was so stressed, and he never wanted to unload all of it on her. But everything was weighing him down, he felt like he wanted to either scream or chug an entire bottle of whiskey. 

 

    “You can’t tell Leia that I told you this.” Poe finally broke down with a sigh and he poured his guts out to her. 

 

    He told her about Natalie being a producer, he told her about how the company was in trouble and that this film was one of their last shots, he even told her Natalie’s ridicules plan of having them get married to spark interest in the movie. Once he started talking to Rey he couldn’t stop himself until he told her everything, and she just watched him with the same passive face until he was done, and she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly to her, letting him bury his head in the crook of her neck. 

 

    “Why didn’t you tell me all of this? You could have told and let all of this out.” Rey stated, running her fingers through his hair and pressing a kiss to the side of his face. 

 

    “I didn’t want you to be worrying about all of this stuff too on top of actually doing the movie.” Poe grumbled as he pulled away from her. 

 

    “You can tell me anything and I’ll listen, I care about you and hate to see you so stressed like that. I...I love you.” Rey said with a small smile on her lips now. “That’s what you do for people you love, you’re there for them when they need you.” 

 

    “You know, I really don’t deserve someone like you Rey.” Poe looked so beaten down and worn out in that moment that it nearly broke Rey’s heart. 

 

    “It’s a good thing then that you don’t get to decide that.” She smirked and pressed another kiss to his cheek, her smile growing bigger and a smile on Poe’s face finally coming through. “See? Don’t you feel better after telling me?” 

 

    “I do, yeah.” Poe laughed a bit. “I feel a lot better.” 

 

    Rey kissed his lips this time and Poe didn’t let her pull away, he deepened the kiss, pulling Rey closer and almost right into his lap. He kissed her until it was impossible to breathe anymore and they pulled away with broad grins on their faces, Rey’s perhaps a bit wider as she grabbed a tissue nearby to wipe her lipstick off of Poe’s lips and her own so it’d stop getting everywhere. 

 

    “I should have proposed to you the right way.” Poe mumbled. 

 

    “Why do you say that?” Rey asked curiously. 

 

   “Because you deserve that...and I really want to marry you, not just to keep people from knocking down our doors or for something for the movie, I genuinely want to marry you. I’d die a happy man if I got to spend the rest of my life with you and only you.” Poe smiled at her. 

 

    “Well...propose to me then, the way you want to.” Rey’s smile grew as she took off her ring and handed it to Poe. 

 

    He knew she’d say yes, just from the way she was looking at him and how she asked him to propose to her the way he felt she deserved, he knew she would tell him yes. But there were still nerves fluttering around in Poe’s stomach as he got down on one knee in front of her while she kept sitting on the piano bench, her hand in his and her hazel eyes locked on him. 

 

    “Rey, I haven’t known you for a very long time, but to me it already feels like a lifetime. I know people may think that we’re stupid for rushing into things like this, your family is going to hate me, and no matter what I do from now until I die I don’t think I’ll ever deserve you. But I want to spend the rest of my life with you, if you’ll have me. I want to give you everything in the world, and I never want you to feel like you missed something for settling for a guy like me, I just want to be with you. So, Rey...will you marry me?” Poe asked. 

 

    “Yes.” Rey answered immediately as Poe put the ring back on her finger and rose back up to meet her lips before sitting beside her again. “By the way, I’m not settling for you, I just happened to be one of the lucky ones who found the person they want to spend the rest of their lives with early on. Not many people get that lucky.” 

 

    Poe just smiled and captured her lips again, Rey wanted to marry him, not for publicity or to keep her reputation, but because she  _ loved _ him. It was such a foreign concept to him, to have someone love him this much and to love someone back that much. Rey wanted to be with him, and if he were to die right now, Poe knew he’d be dying a happy man with her at his side. He didn’t mean for his hand to slide up her thigh and under her dress, but when she grabbed his hand to keep it there as he tried to pull away, he couldn't help but smile into the kiss. 

 

    “We could move this celebration into the bedroom.” She mumbled against his lips as she slowly pulled away, that familiar hint of lust in her eyes that drove Poe wild. 

 

    “I’d be happy to.” Poe smirked as he scooped her up and carried her into their bedroom, her laughing the entire way until he carefully set her down on the bed. “Well,  _ Mrs. Dameron _ , we’re going to have to start moving your clothes and everything in here.” 

 

    “It wasn’t like I was spending much time in there either way.” Rey giggled and pulled Poe closer for a kiss. 

 

    “That’s true, and to be honest, I hope you never go back in that room again.” Poe grinned, deepening the kiss for a moment before pulling away completely and kicking off his shoes, Rey doing the same and scooting further onto the bed. 

 

    “Well,  _ Mr. Dameron _ , care to join me?” Rey asked with a mischievous grin.  

 

    “Nothing would make me happier.” Poe grinned back and practically jumped into bed beside her, Rey’s laughter filling up the room before being muffled out by his kisses. 

 

    “Before we, uh, get into things...can I ask you something?” Rey asked, pulling away from his lips and the nervous look in her eyes now almost making Poe a bit nervous again. 

 

    “Sure, anything you want.” Poe assured her. 

 

    “I...I want to try something different from what we’ve been doing. Not really different, just...different.” Rey tried to explain. “What I mean is I don’t want it to all be one sided.” SHe huffed finally, hoping that would explain things a bit more. “I want to be with you, and don’t you dare use an excuse because we’re officially actually engaged now, this is what married people do, or almost married in our case.” 

 

    Poe wanted to protest, he wanted to tell her that waiting a bit longer couldn’t hurt, but she pushed aside her fear and was nothing but determined now, her nose scrunched up a bit like she always did when she was focusing intently on something, and right now he was the center of her focus. Instead he just laughed a bit, leaning in and pressing a few kisses to her cheek and the tip of her nose before he pulled away again. 

 

    “Alright.” Poe said, the word seeming to catch Rey off guard, she was expecting a battle, and instead he finally gave in. 

 

    “Really?” Rey asked, the surprise twinging her voice. 

 

    “Really, if that’s what you want.” Poe assured her. 

 

    “It is.” Rey said. “One problem though...I have no idea what to do from here now.” 

 

    “I’ll help you out.” Poe laughed as he pulled her into his lap, turning himself a bit so his back was against the mountain of pillows on their bed, and leaned back to sort of cradle Rey in his lap. “This way is easier if you want to stop.” Poe explained to her. 

 

    “Not that I’ll want to, but that’s awfully nice of you.” She grinned before crashing against his lips again and her hands heading straight for the buttons on his shirt, starting to undo them before he could even process what she was doing. 

 

    Rey got all the buttons undone swiftly, she started pushing the shirt aside and resting her hands on Poe’s bare chest, a grin plastered on her face that she couldn’t wipe away. When the pulled apart to catch their breath, Poe got his shirt off the rest of the way and started reaching around behind Rey’s back to undo her zipper. Poe swore he lost the ability to breathe for a minute when he got the zipper completely undone and Rey slowly and teasingly pulled her arms out of the top half of her dress revealing the incredibly risque black lacey bra she’d chosen to wear. 

 

    “You’re going to be the death of me.” Poe whispered. 

 

    “If I have anything to say about it, you’re not going anywhere for a very,  _ very _ long time.” Rey giggled. 

 

    Rey started to focus on kissing down his neck while Poe focused on getting the rest of her dress of, pushing it down past her hips and it only hanging on by her legs now. When Rey parted from him again she kicked the dress off and Poe only had seconds to notice she was wearing black lace underwear to match her bra before she went to work on getting him out of his pants. When she had him down to his boxers though, Rey froze, not knowing where anything really went from here; by now he’d usually have her on her back and nuzzling her underwear off down her thighs, that’s what they did, but now they were face to face and though Rey wanted to be with Poe, she was a bit terrified of the step she had to take to get there. 

 

    “It’s okay, we don’t have to jump into it, just come here.” Poe told her, his hands settling on her waist and waiting for her to lean back in and kiss him. 

 

    Instead, Rey surprised him by reached around her back and unhooking her bra, tossing it aside before leaning back in and kissing Poe again. She let her lips start to travel down his neck again, letting out a surprised moan as Poe’s hands started to travel up her waist and pause as soon as he reached her ribcage now. Rey wanted to be fearless so desperately, and Poe just wanted to let her know that as long as he was by her side, it was okay if she was afraid, because he’d be there to help her through it. Rey pulled away from him again a few minutes later, her cheeks were flushed, her hair falling in perfect curls surrounding her face, and her hazel eyes searching his brown ones for something to tell her what she did next. Poe silently let his hands wander back down to her waist and slip under the waistband of her underwear. Rey quickly helped him get her out of them and once they were gone it was the first time, outside of being in the shower together and being distracted by the soaps and steamy water, that she was completely and utterly naked in front of him - no distractions. 

 

    Poe’s throat went a bit dry at the sight of her in front of him, she was so beautiful, and he wouldn't deserve her in a million lifetimes. But somehow she was here, with him, and she was choosing to be with him, not only here for this first time, but for the rest of her life; he was sure in that moment he was the luckiest man alive. The time, Poe moved forward to kiss her, trying to give her some guidance of sorts by kissing down her neck and helping guide her hands down to the waistband of his boxers. In a few more minutes, there were no clothes left between the two of them and the confidence Rey try to fake kept faltering, letting her shyness and fear shine though. 

 

    “We can stop.” Poe wanted to offer her an out, he knew Rey never liked to back out of anything, she liked to charge headfirst into everything, she was horribly impatient in that way. But Poe often had to remind her to slow down, life wasn’t a race, but if anything that only ever made Rey more determined. 

 

    “No, I’m fine.” Rey nodded and bit down on her lower lip. “What do we do now?” 

 

    Rey was straddling his waist now, she knew roughly what she had to do next, but she wasn’t sure how to go about it. He didn’t want to hurt Rey, that much he knew, which led him to helping Rey up a bit and slowly guiding his fingers inside of her to see if she was wet and ready for something like this to happen. She fluttered her eyes a bit, this was a feeling she was used to and familiar with, something she liked and let out a small moan to follow. He could have just kept doing that if he wanted and that would have been more than enough for him, all he cared about was making Rey feel good, but he already knew that she would protest that and after a few pumps he pulled out of her, putting his hands back on her thighs and helping to guide her down to meet him. He held her mostly, making sure she didn’t just decide to drop down and potentially hurt herself in the process. Poe let her adjust a little bit at a time, she’d bite down on her lip when it was too much and grab his hands on her hips when he wasn’t letting her have enough. It was a quiet process that occasionally filled the room with moans until Rey finally had him completely inside of her. 

 

    Poe guided her with slow thrusts after that which caused Rey to moan a bit louder, when she started to claw at his chest he didn’t know if she was enjoying things or if he was hurting her. When he saw her face start to really scrunch up he stopped and leaned foward to steal a kiss from her, hoping to get some answer out of her. 

 

    “Are you okay?” Poe asked. “Don’t push yourself, tell me if you’re not okay.” 

 

    “It’s just...different.” Rey with a bit breathless. “It’s  _ more _ .” She shrugged not knowing how to explain it entirely. “It’s not bad, I like it, it’s just different.” 

 

    “Okay.” Poe nodded, he could live with different as an answer, it certainly was a change from his tongue and fingers taking care of her.

 

    Rey started up the thrusts again on her own, moving her hips in a way Poe had been moving his before before starting to go with the actual thrusting motion. After getting into the new rhythm, Rey pried Poe’s hands off of her waist and moved them where she wanted them, covering her breasts and digging her nails into his arms a bit before grabbing his shoulders and pulling him closer to kiss him. They stayed like this for a while, a battle of tongues and Rey letting out particularly loud moans when Poe would move his hands just a little bit. Rey soon set the pace a bit faster and settled for clawing at Poe’s back and kissing down his neck and shoulders, nipping a bit at his skin if he hit a sweet spot. When Poe could feel Rey getting close, he went a bit faster as her thrusts fell out of line with his and her back started to arch her body forward. When Rey finally reached her climax, she let out a long and loud moan that broke into pants and gasps before she went silent and Poe helped her ride out the rest of it. She was warm and covered in a light sheen of sweat, everything about her was like silk in that moment, and the lazy grin on her face as she leaned in and stole kisses from Poe’s lips were just as warm and lazy as the rest of her. He thought he could pull away then and call it a night, he’d slip into the bathroom once Rey fell asleep and that would be it for the night, but Rey wasn’t as tired as he thought and protested when he tried to pull her away. 

 

    “No, there’s still you.” She insisted, pushing Poe’s hands off her hips that had tried to pull her away. “We’re not done yet.” 

 

    Before Poe could try to talk her out of it, she gave him one thrust that hit him like a shockwave and could only reply in the moans he’d been making Rey have just moments ago. Rey was grinning like a fool as she felt more in control this time, still moaning, but more focused on making Poe feel good than taking care of herself. She kissed him where he liked, she moved the way that got him to moan the loudest, and she didn’t give him a second to process what was going on. A few minutes later, Poe reached his climax as well, spilling inside of her and feeling like every ounce of his energy had suddenly been drained. It took them a few minutes of panting to catch their breath, but eventually they just smiled at one another and shared lazy kisses, Rey still on top of him and making no motions to move anytime soon. 

 

    “Was it still different?” Poe asked curiously. 

 

   “Yeah, but the good kind of different. I like this different.” Rey grinned. “I think I finally understand why people like this so much.” 

 

    “It’s always better when you have the right partner.” Poe told her. “And you’re certainly one of the best partners I’ve ever had.” 

 

    “You’re just saying that.” Rey was still grinning, feeling like she wouldn’t be able to stop smiling for days now. “I had no idea what I was doing,  _ but _ maybe with a bit more practice I could be the best one?” She asked curiously. 

 

    “You’ll always be the best one to me, Rey.” Poe assured her with a grin. “I’m in love with you, that’s what makes everytime the best time with you.” 

 

    Rey blushed at that, her cheeks hurting from how long she’d been smiling, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop with Poe telling her all those sweet words. 

 

    “I love you too.” She whispered back before giving him a quick peck on the lips and started to make the move to climb off of him. 

 

    Once they were separated, Rey started throwing all the show pillows off the bed until she got to the real once and pulled the comforter down to get to the sheets, she was exhausted and planned on sleeping good tonight, but before Rey could fully tuck herself in, Poe stopped her. 

 

    “Hold on a minute sweetheart.” Poe pressed a kiss to her forehead and climbed out of bed, a few minutes later after Rey listening to the sink run in their bathroom, he came back with a washcloth and slowly spread her legs apart and started to clean her up like he always did. 

 

    After that, Poe tossed the washcloth into their hamper of dirty laundry and crawled into bed beside Rey, pulling her close to him and kissing the back of her neck until she turned to meet his lips. 

 

    “Goodnight, Mrs. Dameron.” Poe whispered to her. 

  
    “Goodnight, Mr. Dameron.” Rey replied with a grin and gave him one final kiss before rolling back over and closing her eyes to drift off into a peaceful sleep. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I wanted to bring some feels back into this fic, so of course I had to make something happen. But don't worry, it'll only bring Poe & Rey closer together ;)

    Filming had ended, a stress finally off the backs of hundreds, and from what Poe had seen of everyone’s combined efforts, he thought the film just might be one of the best stories he’s ever written. Leia seemed to be a bit less stressed, Natalie remained quiet only seeming to further prove her point that she was backing off and actually cared about something for once in her life, and Ben seemed to genuinely start to accept Poe slowly with each passing day; he only wished that Rey hadn’t been so distant. 

 

    It was two months since they got officially engaged to one another, and Poe figured between the stress at work, the stress of putting a wedding together, and everything else crashing around her, that it was all finally getting to her. But there seemed to be something else bothering her, something she didn’t say and kept to herself about; she was always extremely tired in the mornings, she needed to keep water on her constantly to keep from fainting under the hot studio lights, and she was constantly nauseous. Rey insisted that she’d been to the doctors and that everything was fine, but Poe didn’t believe it from how sick she was constantly getting. His worst fears and more were confirmed this morning - their first morning off in ages - when he woke to an empty bed and the sound of Rey crying in the bathroom. Poe carefully and quietly got out of bed, shuffling over to the bathroom door and peeking inside before pushing the door completely open and seeing something from the stuff of his worst nightmares. 

 

    There was blood all over the floor, Rey’s hands were covered in blood, her nightgown and the bottom of her robe dripping in it, and she was sat in a corner, sobbing. At first Poe couldn’t tell if she hurt herself or what had happened, but all that mattered was comforting Rey first and figuring out what had happened second. 

 

    “Rey! Honey, hey, come here, what’s wrong?” Poe was brimming with concern, walking over to her and pulling her up into his arms, letting her bury her face in his shoulder as she sobbed. “What happened?” 

 

    “I-I have to go to the doctors.” Rey managed to say in-between her sobs, Poe’s heart breaking at seeing her so distraught. 

 

    “What happened?” He asked again more softly, running his hands through her hair and hoping to calm her down a bit. 

 

    “I lost it, I knew something was wrong and I couldn’t stop it and-” 

 

    “Hey, hey, lost what?” Poe asked, his features softening realizing that there could have only been one thing she could have lost that would cause all this blood, and it would have explained why she’d been acting so strange in the first place and somehow he was too dumb to notice it and piece it together until he was holding his sobbing fiance in his arms. 

 

    “The baby, I lost our baby. I wanted to tell you but I was so scared and everything was finally getting better but I lost it.” Rey managed to blurt out. 

 

    “It’s okay.” He tried to reassure her. “Everything’s going to be okay.” He mumbled as he pressed a kiss to her temple. “You get cleaned up, and I’ll clean everything else up here and I’ll take you to the hospital, okay?” 

 

    “I can help.” Rey tried to offer, her voice breaking while doing so. 

 

    “No, you’re not lifting a finger today. Just go hop in the shower, I’ll bring some clothes to you in here and I’m gonna clean all of this up.” Poe insisted as he pressed a kiss to Rey’s cheek. 

 

    “Okay.” Rey finally managed to whisper as she pulled away from Poe, her eyes swollen and red-rimmed, her nose bright red as well, and her once cheery and happy manner seemed to broken and sad, Poe had never seen her like this and knew in that moment that he would move heaven and hell to never have to see Rey so broken and sad ever again. 

 

    “I love you.” Poe said to her, his voice breaking a bit as his own sadness set in. 

 

    “I love you too.” Rey answered. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    The doctors only confirmed what Rey already knew once Poe got her to the hospital- she had lost the baby. Poe had a million questions; why this happened, how could it happen, could it happen again, would Rey be okay, and many more that were all met with uncertain answers. They wanted to keep Rey for a few hours and get some IV in her, and then she was ordered to bedrest for the next few days, and that was it. Poe wanted to get some straight answers, but he didn’t want to leave Rey’s side, she had been a wreck since all of this happened and now she was lying in the hospital bed, curled up in a ball on her side, and completely silent, only squeezing Poe’s hand every once in awhile to let him know she was still conscious. 

 

    “Why didn’t you tell me, Rey?” Poe finally asked in a hushed whisper, stroking her hair back out of her face and her sad hazel eyes meeting his. 

 

    “Everyone was already so stressed, the thought of bringing a baby into the world on top of it all...I didn’t want to stress everyone even more. I thought I could handle it and keep together until the movie was done. The funny thing is I was going to tell you about the baby this morning and now…” Rey started to sniffle and tears started to fall again, Poe gently wiping them away before pressing a kiss to each cheek. 

 

    “I’m sorry you handled this by yourself, but I don’t want you to handle things by yourself. I want you to tell me everything, just like you told me to tell you everything. I can’t expect you to hold the weight of the world on your shoulders.” Poe told her gently. 

 

    “I’m sorry.” Rey mumbled. 

 

    “Don’t be, just tell me next time, that’s the whole thing about getting married, right? Together through everything, for better or worse.” Poe squeezed her hand and offered her a small smile. 

 

    “For better or worse.” Rey repeated softly, pulling Poe’s hand close to her mouth and pressed a light kiss to his knuckles. 

 

    “You want me to go call Leia and Han?” Poe asked. 

 

    “No, I’ll tell them myself when I’m out of here.” Rey sighed. 

 

    “Okay.” Poe nodded. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    The next day, Rey just lied in her bed the entire day, she didn’t have energy to do much of anything other than lie in bed and think about all the things she could have done differently to possibly keep their baby. She heard Poe talking to Han and Leia in the living room, none of them surprisingly yelling at one another; and she knew Han and Leia came in to see her, but she barely responded and couldn’t remember what they really said. It was around dinner time when Rey registered that she had actually spent the entire day in bed, Poe was out in the house somewhere, and Rey dragged herself into the shower and changed her nightgown since it was almost time to go back to bed anyway. She ventured outside the room for the first time today and noticed that Poe had certainly been busy; everything looked neat and tidy, he’d probably kept himself busy cleaning all day to keep himself from worrying over her, and when Rey finally found him he was making something in the kitchen that smelled along the lines of some kind of soup. 

 

    “Hey.” She said softly, capturing his attention. 

 

    “Hey, how are you feeling?” Poe asked curiously. 

 

    “I’m alright.” Rey shrugged. 

 

    “I just made some soup, you said your stomach was still bugging you so I didn’t want to push it.” Poe explained, walking away from the stove and over to Rey, resting his hands on her hips. “Are you sure you’re okay?” 

 

    “As okay as I can be for right now.” Rey assured him, resting her hands on his chest and managing to smile up at him. “You know, you always say that you don’t deserve me, but I think I don’t deserve you.” 

 

    “Why do you say that?” Poe asked in confusion. 

 

    “You’re the kindest person I’ve ever met, you’re more caring than anyone could ever know, and you’ve made me one of the happiest women alive on the planet.” Rey said. 

 

    “How about we just call it a draw then.” Poe said with a bit of a laugh and pressed a kiss to her nose. 

  
    “Sounds good to me.” Rey replied. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter is kinda short, but the next chapter will certainly have a lot more going on, I just wanted to show a little bit of how Rey and Poe are trying to cope after everything that happened in the last chapter!

    Rey was slowly trying to pull herself together, a week later she was free and clear to do whatever she wanted, and she spent most of her time trying to figure out the wedding, keeping her mind busy as often as she could. Her job with the movie was done, but occasionally Poe got called to the studio to look at something and Rey would sit at the house by herself. Her mind would wander a bit over everything - how she could have lost the baby and how she could have kept it, if there was anything that could have been changed or it their baby was doomed from the start, it might have been a freak incident, but Rey’s mind lingered on it when she was alone and when she lied up in bed at night. Poe noticed after a couple of days, he watched her like a hawk until he eventually sat down beside her one day while she was in the living room, blankly staring at everything in front of her. 

 

    “You okay?” Poe asked, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close, Rey leaning on his shoulder and just closing her eyes for a moment to take a deep, shaky, breath. 

 

    “I’m fine.” Rey lied, and Poe seemed to know it the instant she said it. 

 

    “How’s the planning going? I’ve been seeing you look at these stacks of papers every day.” Poe was trying to get her mind on something - anything really. 

 

    “Well...I’ve got an appointment for next week to go look at some dresses, I asked Leia to go with me.” Rey answered a bit meekly. 

 

    “That’s good.” Poe pressed a kiss to the top of her forehead. “You sure you don’t want me to come too?” 

 

    “No, it’s bad luck.” Rey smiled a bit before pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You’ll see in a few months.” 

 

    “Good to know.” Poe smirked. “Do you wanna go out for dinner tonight?” 

 

    “I don’t know.” Rey’s smile faded away now as she leaned back against his shoulder.

 

    “Come on, let me get you out of this house for a little bit, you’ve been holding yourself up in here, going out for a nice and quiet dinner might do you some good. And hey, I’ll be right there with you.” Poe reached over and squeezed her hand. “If you get uncomfortable we can go, but I made a few calls earlier and got us a table over at Takodana, the whole place to ourselves.” 

 

    “You got the whole restaurant for the night?” Rey asked with a mix of curiosity and disbelief. 

 

    “Ben helped a little too.” Poe admitted. “But yeah, just me and you, that’s it.” He promised. “I know you don’t want people staring you down, so I figured if I could at least get you out somewhere where you’re not surrounded...it might help?” 

 

    “That’s really sweet Poe.” Rey smiled. “I’ll go change and everything now.” 

 

    “You wanna go? If not I can just call them and tell them no, I’m not making you go out.” Poe insisted. 

 

    “I know, I want to go. You went through all this trouble just to get me out of the house, I’ll go.” Rey said with a faint smile. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Rey got dressed up in a way Poe hadn’t seen her in a while; beautiful red dress, red lips, her hair falling in perfect curls - she looked absolutely stunning, and Poe wished that the restaurant had been full of people so he could show off just how beautiful she was. He was glad however that they were by themselves, Rey was uncomfortable and fidgeting with just the two of them in the place, he could only imagine how she would have been if the place were full. They got through their appetizers pretty quietly, and halfway through dinner Poe was determined to make Rey at least smile a little bit. 

 

    “You look beautiful tonight.” Poe stated, he was sure he’d said it before they left the house, but Rey had been so quiet, he didn’t know what else to start with. 

 

    “Thanks.” Rey nodded and cracked a bit of a smile. 

 

    There was a pause between them before Poe reached over and took one of Rey’s hands, capturing her attention. 

 

    “You know I’m here for you, right?” Poe asked her. “I know you’ve been trying to keep everything bottled up but...I know you’re not okay right now.” 

 

    Rey looked over at him, her smile long gone and sadness clear in her hazel eyes. He’d been watching her since she came home, the doctors said she would be depressed, to what extent he didn’t know until he saw the woman who was brimming with life look like a walking zombie - staring at everything with a lifeless glint in her eyes. 

 

    “I wanted to bring you out tonight because I wanted to give you this.” Poe reached into his jacket pocket and handed an envelope over to Rey, inside of it were two tickets to Paris. 

 

    “Poe-” 

 

    “I trust Ben with anything that might come up with the movie, it’s two weeks - just me and you. We leave next Friday if you want to go. I just figured that after everything, between the movie and...and the baby, I thought it might do us some good to be away from everything and just relax for a bit.” Poe explained. 

 

    It felt like an eternity before Rey finally cracked a smile and pulled Poe closer to her to give him a kiss. 

 

    “I’d go anywhere in the world with you, Poe.” She answered softly. “You didn’t have to take me all the way to Paris for alone time though.” 

 

    “I figured it could be part one of our honeymoon.” Poe laughed. “You wanted to go to Italy anyway for our honeymoon, I always wanted to go to Paris, it’s a compromise.” 

 

    “I love you.” Rey smiled, the first real full smile Poe had seen on her in a week. 

 

    “I love you too.” Poe replied, kissing Rey a bit longer than he should have probably in the middle of a restaurant, but since it was empty he figured it was more than alright. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    As soon as Poe and Rey came back home, Rey lurched at him as soon as he got through the doors, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss that she had been holding back for a while. Poe shut the front door behind them and gladly scooped Rey up, leading her back to their bedroom, and setting her down on the bed gently. It was surprising to Poe to see Rey so affectionate like this again, ever since their visit to the hospital she had kept herself distant from him in bed and that he could understand. But there she was, getting his jacket off his shoulders and starting to unbutton his shirt, Poe was letting her do everything and not wanting to rush into getting her clothes off. When she started moving his hands to her zipper at the back of her dress, he assumed that was her sign for her allowing him to start undressing her. Poe did so slowly, tugging the zipper down just as Rey finished unbuttoning his shirt, and he started helping her out of the dress. 

 

    Poe was tempted to ask if this was alright, but Rey just kept kissing his lips, down his neck, and just about everywhere she could reach that would render him speechless. Once Poe got half her dress off, Rey started trying to get his pants off while he crawled onto the bed. Poe got her out of the dress the rest of the way, casting it aside on the floor, and Rey swiftly got rid of his pants. Poe started kissing his way down Rey’s body, pulling away from her lips, and noticing the further he kissed down her, the more she stiffened up and he knew that something was wrong. 

 

    “Rey, are you sure you want to?” Poe asked, lifting his head up to look right at her and seeing the hesitation in her eyes. 

 

    “You want to.” Rey avoided answering his question directly. 

 

    “I don’t if you don’t.” Poe pulled away from her and lied down on the bed beside her. 

 

    “It’s been awhile, I just thought that…” Rey shrugged before turning over to face him with a sigh. “I don’t know.” 

 

    “I love you Rey, I never want to force you into anything. I can live without sex for a while longer, until you’re ready to go again, I can wait.” Poe assured her, rolling over onto his side now so he could give her a kiss. 

 

    “Are you sure? Because I could take care of you the other way…” Rey hinted. 

 

    “I’m fine.” Poe stated. “...I think I’m gonna go take a cold shower though.” 

 

    “Okay.” Rey sighed before giving him a kiss. “I’m sorry.” 

 

    “Don’t be.” Poe said. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about.” 

 

    “Alright...I’m gonna get ready for bed while you’re in the shower then.” Rey said. 

 

    “Okay.” Poe gave her a small smile before getting out of bed. On his way to the bathroom, he picked up her dress and laid it out on the bed. “You should pack that one for Paris though, it’s a keeper.” 

  
    “Good to know.” Rey gave a slight laugh and a smile as she sat up in bed. 


End file.
